No. 6. 



Management of the Horse. 



193 



works I have met, except Dr. Troost, ap- 

 pears to have given much consideration to 

 the agricultural properties of the respective 

 geological formations in this vicinity. It 

 would be highly gratifying to learn that 

 some of our scientific men had turned their 

 attention to this important subject. It is 

 one, however, that every farmer as well as 

 philosopher, may study with advantage, and 

 may acquire a fund of practical knowledge 

 in the investigations that would result from 

 geological inquiry. 



With a soil so diversified, and most of it 

 susceptible of being made exceedingly fer- 

 tile and productive, with good roads and 

 navigable waters, with a market unsurpassed 

 and with the numerous facilities of com- 

 merce and manufactures around us, we may 

 well boast of having the elements of agri- 

 cultural wealth and prosperity w'ithin our 

 reach. 



It is then our duty and should be our am- 

 bition as the occupants of this favoured sec- 

 tion to improve the advantages we enjoy; — 

 to enlarge the sphere of our usefulness; to 

 make ourselves, not merely members, but 

 active and useful associates of this the most 

 ancient agricultural institution in the Union. 

 In this age of advancement the most numer- 

 ous portion of the community, the cultivators 

 of the soil, must not be listless or indifferent 

 spectators. 



We have, by our annual exhibitions, our 

 monthly discussions, and our frequent social 

 intercourse, contributed materially to the 

 improvement, which I am happy to say, is 

 visible in the agriculture of eastern Penn- 

 sylvania ; but by vigorous and well directed 

 action we may effect much more in future 

 for the cause we espouse. As one means 

 among the many to promote the objects of 

 our Society, allow me to suggest the fre- 

 quent visiting and inspection of farms, whe- 

 ther belonging to members of the Society 

 or others. Visits of this kind might be 

 made either officially or semi-officially, by 

 self constituted committees of two or three, 

 calling on such of their neighbours as are 

 convenient, communicating to our meetings 

 whatever they may think worthy of remark, 

 and suggesting useful hints and improve- 

 ments wherever occasion offers. The dis- 

 cussions and frequent interchange that would 

 be elicited by a practice of this kind, could 

 not fail to be highly beneficial, not only to 

 this Society, but also to the agricultural 

 community at large, whose favourable opin- 

 ion we should cultivate and merit. 



A. S. Roberts. 



The peach may be rendered quite a dwarf, 

 by budding on th^Mirabella plum stock. 



Management of the Horse. 



The breathing of pure air is necessary to 

 the existence and the health of man and 

 beast. It is comparatively lately that this 

 has been admitted even in the management 

 of our best stables. They have been close, 

 and hot, and foul, instead of airy, and cool, 

 and wholesome. The effect of several horses 

 being shut up in the same stable is complete- 

 ly to empoison the air; and yet, even in the 

 present day, there are too many who care- 

 fully close every aperture by which a breath 

 of fresh air can by possibility gain admis- 

 sion. In effecting this, even the key-hole 

 and the threshold are not forgotten. What, 

 of necessity, must be the consequence of 

 this] Why! if one thought is bestowed 

 on the new and dangerous character that 

 the air is assuming, it will be too evident 

 that sore throat, and swelled legs, and bad 

 eyes, and inflamed lungs, and mnnge, and 

 grease, and glanders, will scarcely ever be 

 long out of that stable. 



Let this be considered in another point of 

 view. The horse stands twenty or two and 

 twenty hours in this unnatural vapour-bath, 

 and then he is suddenly stripped c'f all his 

 clothing, he is led into the open air, and 

 there he is kept a couple of hours or 

 more in a temperature fifteen or twenty de- 

 grees below that of the stable. Putting the 

 inhumanity of this out of the question, must 

 not the animal thus unnaturally and absurdly 

 treated be subjected to rheumatism, catarrh, 

 and various other complaints'? Does he not 

 oflen stand, hour after hour, in the road or 

 the street, while his owner is warming him- 

 self within, and this perhaps after every 

 pore has been opened by a rushing gallop, 

 and his susceptibility to the painful and the 

 injurious influence of cold has been excited 

 to the utmost] 



It is not so generally known as it ought 

 to be, that the return to a hot stable is quite 

 as dangerous as the change from a heated 

 atmosphere to a cold and biting air. Many 

 a horse that has travelled without harm over 

 a bleak country, has been suddenly seized 

 with inflammation and fever when he has, 

 immediately at the end of his journey, been 

 surrounded with heated and foul air. It is 

 the sudden change of temperature, whether 

 from heat to cold, or from cold to heat, that 

 does the mischief, and yearly destroys thou- 

 sands of horses. 



Mr. Clarke, of Edinburgli, was the first 

 who advocated the use of well ventilated 

 stables. After him Professor Coleman es- 

 tablished them in the quarters of the cavalry 

 troops, and there cannot be a doubt that he 

 saved the government many thousand pounds 



