DISEASES OF THE BONE. 78 



Another important consideration, in tracing out the causes 

 which unite to produce big head, is the food which the horse 

 eats. In grass-growing countries the disease is rare, and 

 even in the infected districts horses seldom have it, if thej 

 have access to good pastures. It is the same privilege which 

 so largely protects the young colt, in most instances. The 

 soil in those sections of the South which appear to be its 

 principal theater of operations is very dry and sandy, bearing 

 only a species of wire-grass in the early spring. Even this 

 lasts but a few months, becoming so hard by July or August 

 that stock refuse to eat it. At the South, unless there has 

 been a great improvement iii this department of plantation 

 management within a very few years past, the horse is sel- 

 dom allowed the benefit of even this poor grazing, but, when 

 not in service, is usually kept in the stable, or a dry stable- 

 lot. 



If a proper system of plantation management — of grooming 

 and feeding — were adopted, the evil would be overcome to 

 a great extent. But corn, and corn-blades stripped from the 

 stalk in the month of August and dried, constitute the prin- 

 cipal food in the stables of the South. It is,— -or at least was, 

 during the author's residence in that region, — a common 

 practice to feed nothing but these for months together, the 

 horse, meanwhile, being kept at continuous hard labor. Corn 

 is very heating in its tendency, and, as an exclusive diet, al- 

 ways occasions more or less fever. It is to the horse what 

 meat is to his driver ; a portion may be eaten beneficially, 

 but if the diet fails to combine other articles, derangement 

 of the system and consequent illness must follow. A horse 

 which lives exclusively upon corn feed is seldom entirely 

 ■free from fever. 



1^0 common aliment is probably less favorable to the ani- 

 mal health than corn fodder, at least as it is harvested at the 

 South. It is very dry, always dusty, and, while possessing 

 little substance, has a strong tendency to thicken and dry up 

 the blood. The corn is often very much injured by rains, 

 while standing in the field ; in many cases the crop is not 



