no farmers' and mechanics' journal. 



cast in a box is not a common occurrence. Ten feet square will 

 do well ; if he cannot have a larger one. In a box he is freed 

 from the torment of hearing walking and talking behind him. 



3. As to how he should be fed. 1 have never yet met wi<h a 

 person having the charge of horses, who in my opinion attached 

 sufficient importance to the impropriety of allowing a horse his 

 usual allowance of corn when suffering from cold. Not only is the 

 corn thrown away, but it must always do him some harm, and may 

 do him a great deal. Many horses that suffer from a thickening of 

 the windpipe, a disease for which we have here no name, many 

 that are brokenwinded, many that are ruined in their feet, may 

 have it ascribed to being fed in severe colds. The corn increases 

 the disorder of the system by the difficulty with which it is digest- 

 ed, and when digested, it exaggerates what tendency may exist to 

 local inflammation. Oats are the least dangerous corn, they being 

 here so very light. There is another remark which I would make, 

 which i.^,, that no horse should be fed higher than usual, when 

 forced to any accidental violent exertion. He ought never to be 

 forced to any which he has not been, in some degree, prepared 

 for ; and his ability to make it, should be looked for, from the pre- 

 vious preparation, not from any unusual means of supporting his 

 strength. Oats appear to be the corn best suited to a horse's 

 stomach; but he wants something better than ours for full work. 

 There is to an experienced eye, a particular lightness and hollow- 

 ness between the hip-joint and the stifle-joint, in worked horses 

 that get nothing better than oats, which is not to be seen in those 

 that get Indian corn. As I observed in my last communication, 

 there is a great difference, generally, in the constitution of the 

 round-chested, and the deep and narrow horse. The tirst has a 

 much more comfortable one to deal with ; tbe other is often strong- 

 er, faster, and better winded ; but varies infinitely from day to day ; 

 feels the seasons more ; is not so good a feeder ; nor ought he to 

 be ; for his stomach is weaker and more readily oppressed. 



4. As to how he should be worked. It is a common practice in 

 Massachusetts to water horses just before they leave their stable. 

 This is ridiculous ; but a worse practice is to water them during 

 their stage ; which last is universal. They unquestionably may 

 become accustomed to it. as to any thing else ; but it injures many 

 of them. If driven on again immediately, and thrown into new 

 perspiration, it may possibly prevent the water from injuring them ; 

 but I entirely question the fact of its lessening the fatiguing ctfects 

 of their work. I know that it is hard to tire a pedestrian that will 

 drink but little ; and that if he is to walk all day, every tumbler of 

 water, drunk when hot, takes tvvo or three miles from a pedestrian's 

 day's work. It is also a common practice to drive horses through 

 a stream of water when they are hot, to refresh them. The im- 

 mediate effect, (mquestionably, is to refesh them ; but they soon 

 feel an increased stiffness from it. It is the practice of some peo- 

 ple to tie them up after they come in, in the strongest draught of 

 air which can be found, (a damp brick-yard where the sun never 



