No. 11. 



Tlie Horse. 



337 



farmers who now raise these animals in open 

 fields, could, by soiling them, add 20 per 

 cent, to their profits, provided the crops they 

 raise for the purpose are supplied, while 

 growing, with proper nutriment, from which 

 they can assimilate organic or inorganic mat- 

 ter. The animal derives his strength, his 

 growth, and his bulk from the sustenance 

 afforded by these crops. From every 1,000 

 parts of gluten a horse consumes in his food, 

 he receives 557 parts of carbon, 78 parts of 

 hydrogen, 220 parts of oxygen, and 14-5 parts 

 of nitrogen. By manuring his crops with 

 highly nitrogenized substances, the farmer 

 adds vastly to the amount of gluten. If 

 horses be kept fat in winter, their bones and 

 muscles will be defended against cold, and 

 the acids of aliments will be so tempered, as 

 to strengthen and maintain their whole 

 frame. Let it be remembered that the horse 

 is a native of warm climates, and do not, as 

 is usual among farmers in our northern 

 States, turn them out in the barn-yard to 

 obtain a scanty allowance of poor coarse 

 food during the winter. They are liable to 

 numerous diseases which are not unfre- 

 quently brought on by such injudicious and 

 cruel management. When once diseased, 

 it is almost impossible to find out what that 

 disease is, as his structure is amazingly com- 

 plicated. There are but two indications 

 showing internal disorder; the one is an in- 

 disposition to work, and the other a refusal 

 to eat. When either of these signs is ma- 

 nifest, you must at once let the animal rest, 

 and search for his disorder, and on no ac- 

 count compel him to labour. Soil your 

 your horses, feed them during winter on a 

 variety of food, such as oats ground and 

 whole, bran, ship stuff, beans, peas, turnips, 

 carrots, potatoes, and parsnips, occasionally 

 steamed separately, and together. In sum- 

 mer, keep them always confined in airy sta- 

 bles, and feed them clover, rye grass, bruised 

 grains, green corn stalks, cider pumice, oil 

 cake, hay, &c. Be particular to give them 

 three-fourths of a pound of salt per week, 

 occasionally two ounces of sulphur, and fre- 

 quently two ounces of wood ashes. By good 

 keep and judicious management, a pair of 

 horses, perfectly sound when young, will 

 last and labour constantly twenty-five years, 

 and to the end will retain their spirits. I 

 have a pair of bay horses on my farm, that 

 are now 20 years old, during which time 

 they have never been depastured, and have 

 worked daily; they have never been incapa 

 citated for work by lameness, or disease of 

 any kind, and have always been perfectly 

 sound and healthy. If driven through Broad- 

 way, New York city, they would attract 

 general attention. I have another pair of| 



sorrels that are 18 years old, which labour 

 daily, and will do as much work as any pair 

 of six years old in the town in which I re- 

 side. Dr. Hosack, when he died, left a horse 

 28 years old, which I have frequently seen, 

 and which was a very pretty animal, and 

 would have passed for a middle age horse to 

 any casual observer. Mr. Youatt quotes the 

 record of a horse that received a ball in his 

 neck at the battle of Preston, in 1715, which 

 was extracted at his death, in 1758; he was, 

 consequently, more than 43 years old. 



I have made the following rules for my 

 own governance : 



1st. The stable in which horses are kept 

 should have a southern exposure. The 

 ground ought to slope gradually from it to 

 carry off the moisture. It should be kept 

 perfectly dry, as dampness is exceedingly 

 detrimental to horses, and will engender 

 numerous diseases. 



2nd. The stable for valuable carriage or 

 race horses, should never contain more than 

 five stalls, and a sixth one ought always to 

 be constructed of greater size for one of 

 them if somewhat indisposed. If particu- 

 larly sick, he should be removed ; as conta- 

 gion might be imparted to the others. If a 

 stable contains a number of stalls, when five 

 or six horses are on duty, the temperature 

 would be so changed as to endanger the 

 health of those remaining. 



3rd. The stalls should be five feet six 

 inches wide, and ahvays arranged on one 

 side, instead of being placed opposite to 

 each other with an alley between as is 

 usual, for the reason that horses ought not 

 to breathe each other's breath. The car- 

 bonic acid gas exhaled would be detrimental 

 to them, and if one should happen to be dis- 

 eased, the others might, by constantly in- 

 haling his breath, become infected. 



4th. Stone floors should on no account be 

 used in stables, for the reason that they are 

 exceedingly cold, and apt to induce catarrhs, 

 besides being slippery in winter, causing 

 falls, and often injuring limbs. Three inch 

 pine or spruce plank, tongued and grooved, 

 should be laid perfectly level, after which a 

 slight gradual slope may be planed leading 

 to the centre, where a grating of iron bars, 

 one-eighth of an inch apart, should be firmly 

 set in a frame so that it may be taken out at 

 pleasure, through which the moisture would 

 pass into a drain under the floor leading into 

 a cistern ; traps must be so constructed in 

 the drains underneath, that the ammonia 

 may not rise ; if it does, and there is no ven- 

 tilation above for it to escape, the horses 

 will become blind afler much exposure. 



5th. The stable must be airy, and to make 

 it so, there should be a window at either 



