DISEASES OF ANIMALS. 17 



favorable circumstances, and the grand object of all 

 medicines, and all treatment, is to assist nature. 



In the human family, great cures are performed by 

 proper attention to food, abstinence, exercise, air, bath- 

 ing, rest, and to the various habits of the patient. 

 Some severe and obstinate diseases, that have refused to 

 yield to the most powerful medicines, have been com- 

 pletely conquered by abstinence — even sometimes ap- 

 proaching to starvation. 



Why should not some of these gentle means, or the 

 last severe course, if necessary, be pursued with brute 

 patients ? 



Keep animals constantly under favorable circum- 

 stances for health ; and, in case of sickness, remove and 

 withhold all causes of irritation and disease, and place 

 the patient under the most favorable treatment for 

 recovery. Keep the bowels open, the skin clean and 

 well rubbed ; give pure water, good food, suited to the 

 condition, fresh air, yet protect from exposure ; and but 

 very little medicine will be necessary, excepting in 

 sudden attacks with acute diseases. 



Judicious management is the main thing, both in 

 preserving and restoring health. We say of good man- 

 agement in regard to animals, as Demosthenes said of 

 pronunciation in oratory, — it is the FIRST, the second, 

 and the third important requisite. 



TO PROMOTE THE HEALTH OF STOCK. 



Under various heads, in other parts of this work, we 

 have given directions for the management of stock ; we 

 here give some general rules, with a few remarks on 

 subjects not elsewhere considered. 



Mix, occasionally, one part of salt with four, five, or six 

 parts of wood ashes, and give the mixture to different 

 kinds of stock, summer and winter. It promotes their 

 appetite, and tends to keep them in a healthy condition. 

 It is said to be good against bots in horses, murrain in 

 cattle, and rot in sheep. 



A correspondent of the " Southern Planter" says, that 

 he put ashes into his hogpen, and sprinkled them with 

 9* 



