HORSE SENSE. 205 



used after scraping out the horse at the termination of a very heated 

 drive. This should be used quickly, rubbing into the hair thoroughly 

 over the loin, shoulders and quarters and then walk the horse under 

 blankets or rub dry. It will leave the hair in fine condition and have 

 a tendency to tone the skin and take out the soreness of the muscles. 

 This will make enough for about twenty-five to thirty washings. 



DISINFECTANTS FOR WOUNDS. 



That it is necessary in veterinary science, as well as in the human. 

 to give great attention to the disinfection of all wounds, there is no 

 longer any question. If the bacteria can be kept out of wounds we have 

 little or no trouble in the healing process. But once the wound becomes 

 thoroughly infected, then the process of rapid recovery is arrested, and 

 sloughing is apt to follow. A i per cent solution of mercuric chlorid is 

 sufficient to destroy the bacilli, and will be found useful in the treatment 

 of almost all character of wounds and aid in rapid healing. 



CHARCOAL TAR. 



Charcoal tar is useful about wounds as antiseptic and especially in 

 diseases of the feet of animals. # 



SUGAR AS AN ANTISEPTIC. 



Powdered sugar (pure) is an excellent remedy for strongly granu- 

 lating wounds, and acts as a dryer, and aids in forming a scab, under 

 which healthy granulations have a chance to form, as well as acting as 

 a barrier against microbes getting into the wound. It can be dusted into 

 the wound with little or no trouble and where there is but little supura- 

 tion it is just as well to let the wound alone. 



FENCE WIRE CUTS. 



Probably no other one thing gives the farmers of the country more 

 trouble than the wounds from barb-wire fences. Almost all these cuts 

 are across the muscular fiber and it is (as a rule) but little use to stitch 

 them up, on account of the muscular contractions of the skin of the 

 horse. As a rule it is far better to let them alone than to treat them in 

 the usual way; with harsh stimulating and destructive preparations — 

 operating against nature's efiforts — tearing down tissue faster than it can 

 be manufactured, annoying the animal to no purpose, etc., etc. Pure 

 charcoal tar around the wound to protect the borders, and powdered 

 sugar dashed into the wound (if it is self draining) and let the horse have 

 exercise, is as much as is beneficial. In fact if the horse is at pasture, 

 and he is so he can get about at all, it is better to let him alone entirely, 

 than to put him into a foul stable and wash and torment the horse with 

 daily treatment. For twenty years we have had from twenty to over one 

 hundred head of horses running in pastures surrounded with wire fences, 

 and as a consequence more or less of them were injured, and in the be- 

 ginning we gave ourselves any amount of work and worry, and had many 

 bad scars. We have learned to almost entirt-ly let them alone, and the 

 scars now from wire cuts are scarcely perceptable. 



