166 DISEASES OF ANIMALS. 



pressure, or a portion of the sensible part beneath hau 

 protruded itself into the crack. 



The crack must be searched to the bottom, the fides 

 must be pared off a little, and then, with a very small 

 drawing knife, the fissure must be opened and examined. 

 When the dirt or gravel is removed, a piece of tow, 

 dipped in balsam, should be put into the crack, the foot 

 immersed in a linseed poultice for a few days, and a 

 stimulating liniment rubbed on the coronet, to encourage 

 the growth of horn. 



Split Hoof is sometimes occasioned by corking when 

 the travelling is bad, and the inconvenience of a horse 

 lying idle several months is very great. A case is re- 

 ported of two horses that had split hoofs from corking, 

 which were kept constantly in the team, without any 

 signs of lameness. The blacksmith bored the hoof in 

 two places on each side the split, and then passed nails 

 through the holes, and clenched them tightly. 



On this point, Sylvester Staftor, of Thetford, remarks 

 as follows, in the Boston Cultivator : — " 1 had a horse 

 that had a splii hoof, caused by being corked the winter 

 previous ; it had become a cloven hoof on the outer part, 

 and the horse was very lame. I met one of my neigh- 

 bors on tlie road, and he observed that my horse was 

 lame ; he took his jack-knife and cut through the soft 

 hough, a little above the crack, a cross slit, extending 

 three fourths of an inch each way. I kept it soft with 

 stimulating ointments, and as soon as a new hoof could 

 grow, it was as good as any other. Rattlesnake's oil is 

 one of the best ointments." 



To Make the Hoofs Tough. Wash them frequently 

 in brine, and turn up the feet, and turn brine upon 

 the bottoms, and soak them a few minutes. This 

 will make the feet tough, and prevent britileness in 

 the hoof. A correspondent of the Western Farmer and 

 Gardener, fried this, on the recommendation of an old 

 Kentuckian teamster, and it relieved his horse from 

 stiffness in the joints, and his hard, brittle hoofs became 

 soft and tough, and he drove him fourteen hundred miles 

 without further trouble. 



Some regard water as the best application to keep the 



