1862. 



NEW ENGLAND PARMER. 



363 



NEW PUBLICATIONS. 



The Illustrated Horse Doctor. Being an accurate and de- 

 tailed account of tlie various Diseases to which the Equine 

 Race are subjected ; together with the latest Mode of Treat- 

 ment, and all the requisite Prescriptions. Written in plain 

 English, and accompanied by more than 400 pictorial Illustra- 

 tions. By EDWAnn Mathew, U. K. C. V. S. riiiladelphia: 

 J. B. Lippiucott & Co., 1S62. For sale by George L. Dix & 

 Co., Boston. Piice $2,00. 



A person -who loves the Horse, who studies his 

 wonderful construction and adaptation to the wants 

 of man, and who feels a new dignity and power 

 when he sits upon a noble charger or has a pair of 

 mettlesome steeds in hand, can alone appreciate a 

 good horse, or knows how very few there are wor- 

 thy of the term. Few persons are awai-e of the 

 difficulties they must encounter, before they can 

 secure a horse that is of the right size, of the right 

 temperament, one that is elegant in form and ac- 

 tion, and capable of great endurance, if a case of 

 necessity should arise to test his power. Unless 

 occupied with some thought or care that is all- 

 engrossing, we never pass a horse without giving 

 him a critical notice, however brief that notice 

 niav be — and we sincerely believe that nine out of 

 ten of them— both in city and country — are only 

 remarkable for some physical defect, or some dan- 

 gerous habit, alike perilous to both man and 

 beast. They are mean, beyond description, com- 

 pared with what they might be under a proper 

 course of breeding and treatment ; they are knock- 

 kneed, have corns, splint, albugo, bots, broken 

 wind, canker in the foot, colic, horse distemper, 

 fircy, diabetes, curb, contraction of the foot, fistu- 

 la, poll-evil, glanders, founders, heaves, mange, 

 rheumatism, ringbone, sandcrack, roaring, get 

 bone, bog and blood-spavin, blind staggers, stran- 

 guary and lockjaw, tlu-ush, wind-galls and waits, 

 and forty other diseases, that oppress and torment 

 the poor animals a thousand times more than all 

 the labor they ought to perform ! What a fright- 

 ful catalogue of disea.ses, to be visited upon one 

 of the noblest animals — both in structure and dis- 

 position — which God has placed in our care, to 

 subserve our wants or gratify our pleasures! 

 Poor brute ! Never was another so beset with 

 evil, or treated with so much inhumanity. 



There are two principal causes for all this, viz,: 



1. Breeding from old and diseased animals ; 



2. The injudicious and harsh treatment which 

 they receive. 



It has long been a practice, and is a wide- 

 spread one, to breed from aged and imperfect 

 mares — mares that have been excellent animals, 

 but are full of age and the imperfections that a 

 large proportion of all horses acquire before ar- 

 riving at the age of twenty years. One, for in- 

 stance, has had crooked knees for ten years, an- 

 other the spring halt, and another a capped-hock 

 or the heaves. She is past serviceable labor in 

 the field or on the road, and as the kind master 



is stUl desirous of making her profitable to him, 

 he turns her over in old age to the pains of partu- 

 rition, and just work enough in the plow or cart 

 to pay for her hay and grain. This is done by 

 thousands, who never think that these defects may 

 be entailed upon the progeny of these mares, and 

 thus a race of ill-formed, ill-mannered and com- 

 ])aratively worthless horses is perpetuated. For 

 the purpose of breeding, the young or middle- 

 aged of both sexes should be selected — and these 

 should be of the best form, and possessing as 

 many of the best qualities as can be found in a 

 single animal. When these precautious are ob- 

 served, we shall have a race of young horses to 

 start with that will produce the finest animals, un- 

 der a proper course of management. 



The next prolific source of poor horses, is the 

 injudicious, harsh, and very often cruel treatment, 

 which they receive. Colts are put to work too 

 young; pressed to the extent of their power, both 

 in speed and draft, too frequently ; and when fa- 

 tigued or heated, are left in the storm or cold, or 

 a draft, where agues and cramps are contracted 

 that contintie with them through life. They are 

 often urged to turn suddenly and rapidly, which 

 strains or breaks some of the nice organism, as in 

 the case of splint or spavin. They are hampered 

 with unnecessary and injurious harness, such as 

 tight check rein and blinders, which leave them 

 with imperfect vision, and their supple limbs tied 

 and tormentetl into every shape but a natural one. 

 These are all wrong, and the book whose title we 

 have introduced at the head of this notice, under- 

 takes to correct these errors — and not only this, 

 where these faults have brought their legitimate 

 fruits in lameness and disease, it teaches us how 

 to cure and recover, as far as judicious treatment 

 and veterinary skill is able. It is, probably, the 

 best book that has ever been published in relation 

 to the horse. 



For the New England Fanner. 

 THE BAROMETER. 



There seems to be a variety of opinions about 

 the value of this instrument to the farmer, some 

 placing implicit reliance upon it as a weather-indi- 

 cator, while some, consider its teachings so uncer- 

 tain, as to be of no practical value. These differ- 

 ences of opinion are probably due to three causes, 

 namely, more or less care and judgment in ob- 

 serving its indications, in connection tviih the sea- 

 son, direction of icind, &c. ; difference in action 

 of the instrument itself in different localities, and 

 difference in expectation of what it was capable of 

 doing before obtaining it. 



From the extravagent statements of some who 

 had tried it, many were led to believe that it would 

 tell them, with unerring certainty, when it would 

 rain, and when it would be fair, and that, if the 

 barometer did not indicate rain, they could go on 

 with haying or harvesting with impunity, in spite 

 of every other appearance of rain, and when dis- 



