116 TUL FARM. 



head will work easier and last longer than one on which a check is used. 

 Blinds are another popular absurdity in the use of horses. They collect 

 dust, pound the eye, and are in every way a nuisance. A horse that aannot 

 be driven with safety without them should be sold to a raih-oad grader. Ko 

 colt should be broken to them. Animals fear noises they cannot see the 

 cause of much more than those they can. We would dispense with tight 

 reining and with blinds. 



Colic iu Horses. — This disease is caused by indigestion, over-feeding, 

 or by giving cold water in large quantities, or by eating sour grain. If colic 

 occurs from eating sour grain, one of the best remedies is a few lumps of 

 charcoal. Pulverize it fine and pour on it about a quart of boiling water. 

 When cool, strain off and give. If the above does not give relief, stimulants 

 should be given, with a view to arouse the stomach and get relief from the 

 fermented food which it contains. Purges are of no sort of use for the pui'- 

 pose of reUeving an overloaded stomach, and therefore if inflammation is 

 present, their use is positively injurious. The use of saleratus and turpen- 

 tine, which is so popular an agent with horsemen, are not always the proper 

 remedies. To make use of the former, being an anti-acid it is supposed to 

 combine with the free acid in the digestive organs, and thus neutralize it, 

 but if its use is persisted in, it will injure the mucous membrane of the 

 stomach. Turpentine ia a powerful irritant, and it shoiild never bo made 

 use of except by those who understand its action, and neutralize it by mix- 

 ing it with linseed oil. The following has been used with good results, and 

 can be recommended as safe and efiicacious: Sulphuric ether, 1 1-2 ounces; 

 oil of pepperment, 2 ounces; water, 16 ounces. Iilix and shake well before 

 giving. If not relieved, give again in half an hour, and an injection com- 

 posed of soap suds to be thrown into the rectvim. 



Dr. N. Eowe, of Chicago, gives the following as the best simple remedy 

 for colic in a horse: If it is ordinary colic, or gripes mthout flatulence, give 

 him a dose of whisky, say from two to four ounces, that being generally 

 handy; or a strong dose of peppermint or spearmint tea, hot; biit if a drug 

 store is near, give from one to two ounces each of laudanum and spirits of 

 nitre; repeat the dose in half an hour if nocessarj\ If it is flatulent colic, 

 the horse bloated with gas, give a teaspoonful of saleratus iu half a pint of 

 warm water, repeat it in ten minutes; if this does no good, give an ounce of 

 turpentine in half a pint of linseed oil; or you may give half an ounce of 

 chloral hydrate in half a pint of cold water. In addition to the above direc- 

 tions, in all cases give warm water injections, and let the horse remain quiet, 

 allowing him to roll if he wants, to give friction to the belly, and give soft 

 feed and rest afterward for a day or two. 



The Massachusetts rionghman recommends salt, and as this is knov n 

 among housekeeepers as useful in colic, we give what the writer says: 

 " Spread a teacupful of salt upon the back of tlie animal over tlio kidneys 

 and loius, and keep it saturated from twenty to thirty minutes, or longer if 

 necessary. If the attack is severe, drench with salt water. I have a valua- 

 ble bull, weighing nineteen or twenty hundred pounds, wliich had a scvcro 

 attack of colic a year ago last summer. I applied salt to his back as above, 

 and it being difficult to drench, we put a wooden bit into his mouth, keeping 

 it open about two inches, and spread salt upon his tongue, which, togotlier 

 with the salt upon his back, relieved lain at once, and within a very short 

 time equilibrium appeared fully rosn)red. I have for several years past 

 bucccssfuUy applied this treatment to other animals in my herd." 



