218 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



PROPAGATION OF DISEASE IN HORSES. 



Mr. Skiiine-, in hi* Jouna', qmtcs authorities to 

 Bhow the trutli of hcreditarv diseases among horses 

 as well as amouij; men. He say.s — 



" It liaviiig heea clearly .shown, not only in the- 

 orv, I u: 111 ■ r.ictice. that the di c s 's and dolbcts of 

 hor^e* are lor the mo<t part hero lit try, we may be in- 

 duced t ) ^;ivc credit to th'! assertion, that the Arabi- 

 ans, after having- brou2;ht their breed of horses to the 

 highest pitch of im,)roveinent of which they them- 

 selves considered them ca,)able, have preserved their 

 chief iierfe.tion, namely, great endurince of fatigue, 

 with highly organized matter, and natural soundness 

 of limb — by rcs:iic ing the use of stallions until 

 approved of by a public inspector of them. Indeed, 

 in several European states, similar ])recaution3 are 

 taken, and stailioas are provided by their govern- 

 ment^, for the use of farmers and others who breed 

 horses ; and care is tikon in the selection of them to 

 avoid all su.-h as have ])roved naturally unsound, or 

 bi'en attb t.'d by any di>i.aie, the influence of which 

 may be hereditary. No part of veterinary pathology 

 is more interesting than th;it which relates to the 

 h?roditabL>ncss of di-casc ; and, as an eminent French 

 writer (Professor Duiniy) on the veterinary art 

 observes, ' That person will render an important 

 service to his country, and to rural economy in gen- 

 eral, who may show, by incontestable evidence, that 

 those organic diseases (farcy and glanders) are very 

 often hereditary. I knew a mire whose body, on 

 dissection presented every appearance of glanders : 

 her filly died at the age of four and a half years, of 

 the same tubcrLulous affection. The other offspring 

 of this mare inherited her particular conformation, 

 and her propensities to bite and kick.' The profes- 

 sor produces three similar instances of inherited 

 disease, all of which, he says, were too evident and 

 •well marked to admit the ];Ossibility of any serious 

 mistake, and were attested by the professors of the 

 Veterinary School at Alford. Similar observations 

 follow in relation to the diseases of oxen, cows, sheep, 

 and swine, as also of ophthalmy in horses, all of 

 ■which are transmitted from one generation to another, 

 the effect of hereilitary influence. ' These consid- 

 erations, continues the professor, 'to us are of the 

 greatest moment, since we have it in our power, by 

 coupling and crossing well-known breeds, to lessen 

 the number of animals ])redisposcd to these diseases.' 

 Acting up to such ideas, our line of conduct is 

 marked out. ^Ve must banish from our establish- 

 ments designed to improve the breed, such animals 

 as show any signs of tuberculous disease, or any 

 analogous affection. Above all, no stallion should 

 be allowed to remain in a wet or cold situation, in 

 consequence of the evils likely to result therefrom." 



Remauks by Editor N. E. Farmer. — It is a well- 

 established law of nature that like produces lilce ; 

 and any animal or vegetable that is diseased, is liable 

 to transmit that disease to its descendant. This im- 

 portant fact should always be borne in mind, for 

 with a little care to this subject, sound animals and 

 plants may be as easily propagated as defective ones, 

 and every one must acknowledge that there is a vast 

 difference in their value. 



WIND-GALLS. 



Ilorses which are subjected to hard service arc 

 liable to have what are called ipiad-;iaUs on those 

 parts of the limbs which are most exposed, especially 

 about the hough and upper pastern joints. The a.W'ec- 

 tion is an undue enlaigement of little bags or sacs 

 which arc situated in the parts named. By the strain- 



ing of the tendons, these sacs become injured, and 

 sometimes take on inflammation, and bct-ome hard. 

 Youatt says, " The farriers used to suppose that they 

 contained wind; hence their name wiud-r/a/b ; and 

 hence the practice of opening them, by which dread- 

 ful inflammation has often been produced, and many 

 a valuable horse destroyed." As to treatment, the 

 author just referred to directs, "If the tumors are 

 numerovis and large, and seem to imi)ede the motion 

 of the limb, they may be attacked fii'st by bandage. 

 The roller should be of flannel, and soft pads on each 

 side of the enlargements, and bound down tightly 

 upon them. The bandage may be wotted with a lo- 

 tion composed of three parts vinegar to one of spirits 

 of wine. The wind-gall will often diminish or dis- 

 appear by this treatment, but will too frctiuently re- 

 turn when the horse is again hardly worked. A 

 blister is a more effectual remedy, and firing still 

 more certain, if the tumors be sufHeiently large and 

 annoying to justify our having recourse to measures 

 so severe. In bad cases, the cautery is the only cure, 

 for it will not only eft'ect the immediate absorption 

 of the fluid, and the reduction of the swelling, but, 

 by contracting the skin, will act as a permanent 

 bandage, and therefore prevent the reappearance of 

 the tumor." — American Farmer. 



CURE FOR BONE SPAVIN. 



Take oil of amber, oil of spike, and spirits of tur- 

 pentine, equal parts, say four ounces ; warm them on 

 some warm ashes with no blaze, and apply them as 

 warm as you can to the spavin by pouring it on and 

 rubbing it in well with the ball of your thumb ; 

 (flrst shave the hair off of the spavin ;") this must be 

 repeated twice a day for two days, when, if well 

 rubbed, it will become a running sore ; wet a sponge 

 with the substance, and apply it twice a day for three 

 days, then stop for three daj-s, and if the spavin has 

 not disappeared, repeat the course throe days longer, 

 let the sore heal, wash it with plantain leaf scalded 

 and suds from Castile soap ; as soon as the sore is 

 closed, commence rubbing with lard or rank butter, 

 and the spavin will disappear, and the hair will grow 

 in the same color. — Tbid. 



A CHARACTERISTIC OF THE AGE. 



When wo look abroad upon the world, and scan its 

 most striking features, and comjDare them with the 

 features of the days gone by, we cannot fail to per- 

 ceive that there is one trait at least Avhich eminently 

 characterizes and distinguishes the present from all 

 others that have preceded it, we refer to the spirit 

 of rapidity in locomotion. It was the boast of Caesar 

 that his legions in one season had conquered in Asia 

 and Europe ; but in the same space of time Avhich 

 Csesar's legions took to come from Rome to Albion's 

 coast, an army could now be transported from the 

 Thames to the Indus, or across the wide Atlantic — 

 that ocean which to the ancients was a vast unknown. 

 History records with pride the feats of swiftness per- 

 formed by their sure-footed " steeds of metal true ; " 

 but what is the speed of the swiftest animal in ani- 

 mated nature, in comparison with the swift-winged 

 messenger that travels along the copper wire of the 

 telegraph, or the disk-footed courser that pants un- 

 wearied on his iron-girdled course from lake to 

 ocean ? Last year, our country was thrilled by a 

 famous horse on Long Island trotting one hundred 

 miles in ten hours, and fifteen years ago Mr. Osbaldis- 

 tone, in England, astonished the world by riding two 

 hundred miles in ten hours, by relays of famous 

 racers ; but M'hat are all these feats in comparison 

 with the feats of a few iron wheels driven with ex- 

 panded water ? The crippled soldier, whose luckless 



