1868. 



NEW ENGLAND FARIMER. 



173 



vote it exclusively to producing something bet- 

 ter in the way of horses, than we now have. 



Remarks. — Some of the geologists have sup- 

 posed that in "old times" New England was 

 an island, the valleys of Lake Champlain, 

 the St. Lawrence and the Husdon rivers, being 

 occupied by an arm of the sea. Be this as it 

 may, it is well known that the heavy, clay soil 

 of the valley of Lake Champlain is remarka- 

 bly productive of grass and all forage crops. 

 The amount of snow, also, which falls in Shel- 

 burne is from one-fourth to one-half as large 

 as that which falls in towns on the easterly 

 slope of the Green Mountains. These facts 

 should be taken into consideration by farmers 

 in other sections who propose to adopt the 

 plan of winter pasturage recommended by Mr. 

 Meech. We hope, however, that his sugges- 

 tions and liberal proposition will lead to some- 

 thing practical in the improvement of horse 

 breeding in Vermont. 



EXTRACTS AND EEPLIES. 



CRIBBING HORSES. 



I wish to inquire through the columns of the 

 Farmer with regard to the cause and cure of 

 cribl^ing in horses. I have a valualjle animal ad- 

 dicted to that habit. John Sherman. 



Middleburij, Vt., Jan. 18, 1868. 



Remarks. — The causes of crili-hiting are vari- 

 ously stated ; they are probably, some of the fol- 

 lowing: want of exercise ; imitating other horses ; 

 sometimes gi'ows out of the custom of cleaning 

 them near bars or partitions, which the horse lays 

 hold of when he is curried a little too hard ; it may 

 grow out of the habit of keeping feed, gi-ain or 

 hay continually before the animal, and the diges- 

 tive organs becoming impaired ; or the habit may 

 be induced by the long-continued impurity of the 

 air in the stable. 



The habit of crib-biting occurs among horses of 

 all classes ; those that are poorly fed and tended, 

 and those that receive most systematic care; 

 among the young and old ; those that work much, 

 and those that work little. 



It cannot, we think, be a habit of mere fancy, 

 but springs from some M^ant not supplied, which 

 disturbs the system, and gradually leads to an un- 

 rest which settles down into one fixed habit. The 

 premonitory symptoms indicate indigestion, as 

 when the animal is biting a small portion of heated 

 air or gas is frequently eructated. We should 

 consider a "cribber" to be an unsound horse. 



What is the cure, you ask ? Fii-st, a moderate, 

 nutritious diet of good hay, with grain in propor- 

 tion to the work performed. 



Secondly, regularity in feeding, twice or three 



times in twenty-four hours, and no more given at 

 once than will be eaten with a sharp appetite. 



Third, the utmost cleanliness in everything 

 about the animal. 



Fourth, have no feeding box attached to the 

 stall, but feed from a box on the floor, and when 

 the horse is done take the box away. Have no 

 timbers or edges of boards within his reach ; but 

 smooth surfaces that he cannot well get hold of. 



Fifth, let the animal have his freedom on the 

 bare ground occasionally, and place a lump of rock 

 salt in his stall where he can always reach it when 

 there. Each of these will tend to enable the 

 horse's digestion to recover its lost tone. 



"WORMS IN HORSES. 



My horse has been troubled for some time with 

 worms, and iu looking over the Farmer for a 

 remedy, I came across one in the pajicr of Sept. 7, 

 1867, advising wood ashes, and this having no 

 effect, to use two drachms of tartarized antimony. 

 When I went to the druggist, ho told me it was tlie 

 same as tartar emetic, and would surely kill my 

 horse, and frightened me from buying. I have 

 used a great many of your receipts and have always 

 found them good, and so I thought I would like 

 to ask you if the druggist was right. Excuse me 

 for the trouble, but I really want to know. He, 

 (the druggist,) said that lo grains would kill a man. 



Haverhill, Mass., Ja7i., 1868. J. H. Barker. 



Remarks. — In the Farmer of Sept. 7, 1867, "A 

 Reader," writing from Mansfield, Mass., inquired 

 for an "effectual method of destroying worms in 

 horses ?" We replied at some length, and gave 

 as a remedy the use of wood ashes, which we had 

 employed for many years with the happiest results, 

 and which we could therefore confidently recom- 

 mend. 



We took pains, however, at the same time to 

 consult the books, and in the best work on the dis- 

 ease of horses, which has ever been published in 

 this or any other country, Mayhew's Illustrated 

 Horse Doctor, we found the following: — "Whoever 

 has remarked the dunghill in a knacker's yard has 

 seen it to consist quite as much of lumhrici (that 

 is, worms,) as of exci'ement. Mr. Woodger, of 

 Bishop's Road, Paddington, removes these pests 

 with ease and certainty. The above-named vete- 

 rinary surgeon gives tioo drachms of tartarized an- 

 timony with a sufficiency of common mash, as a 

 ball, eve)-y morning, until the parasites are ex- 

 pelled." This is the exact quotation. Dr. May- 

 hew's book is the most thorough and humane 

 work on horses that we have ever seen, and his 

 experience with them is probably more extensive 

 and familiar than that of anj' other man. His 

 work on the Management of Horses, and his Illus- 

 trated Horse Doctor, are warmly commended by 

 the aolest journals in this coimtry and in Eng- 

 land and Scotland. There is not a particle of 

 quackery about them. He was placed in the Eng- 

 lish Horse Guards, we learn, when a boy, where he 

 he evinced such a love for the equine race, and 

 such an aptitude in learning all about it, that 

 he was thorougly educated, not only in what 



