NKW ENULAiXM 1 AilMEil, 



186 



ParkiiK'on says he lias known horses lo be killed gisis , iincoininonly acciiiale in his oliseivatioiis 

 by fe«aiM" oil raw potatoes. Raw potatoes have j anil llioroiigh in all liis iuvHSii-atioiis. Dr Giveii's 

 been vny'siiccessfully applied Willi us to ihe fat-! acroiiiit should be read by every personal 

 tt-niiii: of l>ct:f animals. Would ihey be better if, all iiiteresttd in the subject. If he is correct, as 

 biileil or .stfiunHil ? Tlin Complete Grazier slates I doubt not he is, bols are not fcrerf, though they 

 that the value of veuetibles for leediiin animals is I nmj be said to be raised in the bowels of a 

 not always in proportion to the qiiaiiiity of nutritive ' horse. 



iiiatier which they arc foiiml by chemical analysis j The other horse I lost 7 or 8 years ago. He 

 to'possess. Of this fact I have been long satisfied. I was young, anil had been easily kept in good 

 I throw out, Mr Editor, these various hints and condili.in. The spring before he died, he per- 

 sug^estions, not with a view to giving any opinion ceptibly lost tlesli, and discovered symptoms of 

 in'lhe case, but merely to know the value of par- being troubled with hots. 



tioular and exact experiments in a inalter which is Thioiigli the following summer I had but little 

 of the highest practical importance where opinions 'and light work for liioi ; yet with much better 

 are so vaHoiis, and where at best we are so much [ keeping than usual, I coulil not hide his ribs. 

 in the dark. H- C. I In the autumn, be was seized with cholic, on a 



short journey, in the hands of an experienced and 

 careful driver, and dijd before the next morning. 

 His death was caused by a small quantity of corn 

 remaining undigested in his stomach. Taking all 

 the circiinis-tances together and in connexion 

 with my late experience, I have concluded that 

 he had been essentially injured by bols. For I 

 can hardly conceive that double the quantity of 

 orn lie had eaten would have injured a horse will 



Dec. 28, 1831. 



FOR THE NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



BOTS IN HOUSES. 



Soulh Boston, Pec. 59d, 18M. 



Mr Fessenden — I have read veiy attentively 

 the article ■ in your paper of yesterday, copied 

 from the American Farmer, relating to hots in 

 horses. ETcrything that may throw light upon 

 the subject is important, as this insect has been I a sound stoinaci 

 generally and I must still believe rghtly, thought', 



the most lorinidabh! enemy to the horse. I feel 

 a deep personal interest in the subject, having lost 

 one valuable horse, I doubt not in the least by a 

 direct attack of the bot<, ami another, as I firmly 

 believe, by cholic, occasioned by his stomach be- 

 ing disordered originally by the depredations of 

 bols. The last meiilioni'd horse died at a dis- 

 tance from home. I did not see him after he was 

 taken ill and had no opporlunily to e,\aniino the 

 condition of his stomach. The more remote cause 

 of his death is therefore a matter of coiijeeliire, 

 A case, however, has come under my observa- 

 tion, which I cannot reconcile wiili the new theo- 

 ry of JVIr Harden. To illustrate tli 



have yet to state the case on which I chiefly 

 rely, to prove that hots prey upon the stomach of 

 the living horse, always to his injury in propor 

 lion to their ravages, and very often to his destrnc. 

 lion, if they are very numerous. In the winter of 

 1S29, a man in my employ kept a horse in my 

 stable. He was seMom used, and put to no. hard 

 service. He was not m,-aiily poor when he came, 

 but rather lean. He had what good English hay 

 be would eat, nn<l grain daily. Still lo my ayr- 

 prise lie seemed lo gain no flesh. At length he 

 was seized with cholic, which caused an Giitiie 

 stoppage in bis bowel.-?. We could not remove ii 

 by cathartics or ctysivrs. After death I exom- 

 incvl bis siiiiiiacb inyselC, could find only 2 or 3 

 first refer to another. In February, 1328, one of i |„,ts, and those of small size. Yet there was abiiiid- 

 the horses above mei.tioiied died, after having been 1 ant evidence of their fonrnr ravages. About two 

 ill about 24 hours. As soon as be i-ould be skin- j ibii-ds, I should think more, of the inner coat el 

 ned, I comiiienced dissLCtion to ascertain tlie cause : liis riiaw had been eaten away clean long ago as 

 of his death. On coming to the stomach I found | was evident by a scarred rim, or head, along ih» 

 Tory many bots, and abmit nvo thirds of the in- ledge of the portion not consume! ; showing thai 

 tier or villous coat of the stomach entirely eaten „,,ture had been making an ineff.'ctiial eBbrt Ir 

 nway— ;io( eaten Ikroytgli ; as the outer or mu.inilar I repair the injury, after the plunderers had finish 

 coat remained almof! entire. Now if Ihi-ir olijeci ' ej ibeir brief existence nnil reiircil. I may be toll 

 had been to luakd their e.scape as .speedily as pos-Jit is not ab.sobitely certain this injiiry was caiiseJ 

 sible from the stomach of the dead animal, they by bol.s. Vet appearances so exactly correspond- 



reUting to this subject, I would again refer to ths 

 conuiiiinication of Dr Green, above mentioned. 



The articln of Mr Harden contains many valu- 

 ble hints; but I cannot yet subscribe lo his theory. 

 Instead of cholic being the original cause of death 

 to hmses, in ao many, case.s as he su|iposes, I am 

 confident thechornr is much oftener occasioned by 

 the bols feeding upon the stomach, till it is ren- 

 di-red incapable of performing its natural functions. 

 When they leave the horse, having attained their 

 wth, they leave liim peculiarly liable to cholic, 

 for his fooil can never after be well digested, and 

 Miich of it will pass through him but imperfectly 

 ligested, always a pretty certain indication of dis- 

 ease, of an unhealthy or unsound state of the stom- 

 ch. I will not further extend this article, tci 

 omnient piirticnlarly upon the theory of Mr 

 Hardin. The attentive reader will perceive that 

 his ficts may easily be accounted for, without 

 idoptiiig his theory. It is very natural, for in- 

 stance, that bots, when disturbed by dissecting or 

 handling the place of their abode, slioiild endea- 

 vor speedily to hide themselves from observation. 

 But this is one thing, and leisurely eating away 

 the id/irr coat of the stomach, leaving the outer 

 nearly entire, is quite anoj/ier. 



At this season of the year, it may not be amisS 

 to add a few words on the proper mode of treat- 

 mint for the hots. It is evident they cannot be 

 killed within the horse, without endangering his 

 life. The object therefore is to administer some- 

 tiling which they may prefer to feeding upon his 

 stomach, to induce tliem to let go their fast hold; 

 and then to ilischarge them as speedily as possibla 

 by the most active and powiuful cathartics. If a 

 horse is violently attacked, first give him laudanum 

 to reduce ihe spasms. Bleed freely in the jugular 

 vein. But I think there is danger in bleeding any 

 ammnltill he falls. Turn down a quart or two of 

 \lie lilood, warm as it fiows ; or give that quantity 

 of warm milk and mohis.ses ; and in a few miiiutei 

 a powerful dose of castor oil, or other like medi- 

 cine. Cramming down the entrails of a fowl may 

 be considereil a ludicrous prescription, and indeed 

 I should never think of recommending it. Slill I 

 have heard of cases so well attested of relief being 

 gained, by it that I can easily conceive it to be s 

 rare dainty to the insects, in the failure of ihcir na- 

 tural Hod. Uespectfully, . ' 

 Lemcel Cape.n. 



would not have passed over so much surf 

 They nilglit have eaten through in any part, im- 

 mediately. Now could it have been their oiiject 

 to gorge themselves at last with one despi late meal 

 of flesh. Ten times their niimber, voiai-ious as 

 they appear to be, could not have devoured so 

 much, in the time that elapsed between the ilcatl. 

 of the burse niul the lime of dissection. In fact, 

 they discovered no disposition to leave the maw 

 of the horse. At the lo.ver passage where it ap- 

 peared to have been tliiniier they had lalen 

 through in shreds j but had not made thiires- 

 capcv. Where most of them were present, they 

 seeiiied leisurely at work, to satisfy their natural 

 appetite. 



I published some remarks upon this case at the 

 time, in the Ne)v England Farmer with a refer- 

 ence to the natural history of tlii.s insect in the 

 4th vohmie of the New Eiijjhind Farmer, page 345, 

 liy Doct. Greei) of Mansfitjld, a gentleman well 

 kiioiyu to be one of our most learned eatomolo- 



ed to lho.se in the case of my own horse where I 

 f Hind them in the very act. that I have not i 

 doubt upon the subject. If ihe knife had beer 

 applied, as recommended by Mr Harden, this horse 

 might possibly have been relieved, for the time ; 

 but never could have been a serviceable beast 

 His intestines were greatly inflamed, and dislend- 

 ed like blown bladders, by the air produced bv the 

 fermenting undigested food, that was stowed away 

 in them. Many cases described to me by others, 

 still mbre confirm me in the belief, that bots do 

 prey upon the stomach of the living horse as their 

 natural food. It did not occur to nie In describing 

 the case of my own horse, but I might have add- 

 ed, that I kept many of the bols several days, 

 under various experiments and often applied them 

 to the stomach of the horse after soaking it in 

 warm water. They uniformly seemed at home, 

 firmly applied their hooks and went to work, greed- 

 ily sucking any blood that flowed from the mi- 

 nute vessels. For many interesting particulars. 



From tlie SpringrielU Whig. 



INDIAN CORN. 



Mr Eldridge — If yon think the following 

 ivorihy of a place in your columns, or of being, 

 tend by my brother farmers in the valley of tb« 

 Connecticut, it is at your service. I live oiii easii 

 IS yon say in Springfield ; but my farm, by gooil 

 lusbaiidry, pro, luces as good crops, and io as greal 

 Lhuiiilance, as any of Ihe lands in your ineadows, 

 under the best possible state, of cultivation, , ., 



Last spring. I ploughed up a piece of green, 

 sward, measuring about five acres, and prepared 

 it for corn as well as the means would permit.^ 

 After ploughing, thirty loads of manure lo the 

 acre were spread over the ground and thoroughly 

 mixed with the earth by the harrow, withour dis- 

 turbing or breaking up the sward. . The grounii 

 being now prepared, on the 30th of May I plants 

 ed my corn. A small quantity of ashes, lime and 

 paster of pur'is, mixed together and prepared fof. 

 tie purpose, was introduced at the time of plaijU, 

 {n^, or put in the kill. Of this mixture or conih 



