258 VETKRINARY HOMCEOPATHY. 



itself should be disinfected by burning sulphur for some hours, 

 and thereafter exposing it to a current of fresh air for a fortnight 

 before allowing mares that are with foal to occupy the compart- 

 ment. 



When abortion can be traced to ergotized hay, rusty straw or 

 other damaged fodder, the remedy is clear enough and it calls for 

 no suggestion how to act. To those who have invested large 

 sums in the purchase of valuable brood mares whose object it is to- 

 make breeding pay, or we would even say, who do not wish to lose 

 money, we w'ould impress upon such the importance of taking some- 

 thing like a scientific view of the position ; mere hap-hazard chance 

 will not do where vital processes, such as those associated with re- 

 production, are concerned, and bearing in mind the immense sums 

 of money that have been lost for want of a more delicate apprecia- 

 tion of the requirements of nature under such conditions, we feel 

 that we are only attempting to serve the cause we have at heart 

 by issuing a warning note on this all-important subject to the 

 breeders of the future: those who aim to realize profit at horse 

 breeding, and who can conduct establishments on anything like an 

 extensive scale should see to it that they secure the services of a 

 qualified veterinarian who has made the subject his own in all its 

 bearings, for certainly no lay horseman, however clever and 

 observant, can properly undertake the responsibilities arising out 

 of the care of a stud of brood mares, if the best possible is to be 

 made out of them, and serious losses are to be obviated; for men, 

 who are horsemen only, and have no practical knowledge of the 

 subject of reproduction, the art of breeding must be a costly ex- 

 periment, and if such think they can find among ordinary stud 

 grooms or stablemen, those who can properly conduct a breeding 

 establishment, we have no hesitation in stating that they will be 

 disappointed in nine cases out of ten; it is not reasonable to ex- 

 pect anything else; it would be just as likely to answer, if a man 

 was brought up to the business of a shoemaker to expect that he 

 could conduct a large engineering works; every one knows what 

 would be the consequence of such an appointment. It would be 

 very easy to point to quite a number of horse breeders who seem 

 to have done fairly well; but we never came across an instance 

 yet where far better things might not have been realized had the 

 business been in the hands of a man who knew how to deal witli 



