468 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



for power of endurance. The horses seldom see oats or any other 

 grain till they are old enough to work, and then " mighty little,'' 

 as everything there must be done up on "the cheap." The 

 Indiana colts are generally allowed to eat all, or nearly all 

 the corn they like, summer and winter, commencing as soon 

 as they have teeth to masticate it. The result is, for fast 

 driving, they are comparatively useless forever, though at slow 

 work they do very well. When I first came here I was struck 

 Avith the multitude of diseases that horses are afflicted with here, 

 that are seldom or never known in Vermont; and although some 

 of them may be attributed to the climate, I am convinced most 

 of them are caused by giving them too much corn. These dis- 

 eases are in part the following : Stiif complaint, (something like 

 a horse foundered all over,) fistula, sweeny, (perishing of the 

 scapular muscles,) pole evil, general lameness without any appa- 

 rent cause, and blindness, which is very common. Now are not 

 all these diseases nearly allied to the gouty inflammations that 

 follow high living in the genus homo'? (Hope I do not hit any 

 member of the Club.) 



"A fine colt that perhaps never had a halter on him, will be 

 attacked with inflammation of the eyes, one or both, generally 

 sclerotitis or conjunitivis, and in spite of knocking out the "blind 

 teeth,'' or "cutting for the hook,'' if the corn diet is continued 

 the eyes are lost. 



" I find that if I keep a horse pn corn instead of oats, he will 

 surely "fail up'' sooner or later. He will endure through the 

 winter, but it will tell the following summer, though corn be dis- 

 continued in the spring. I happened accidentally to find a mare 

 five years old, who was so vicious that her master could not use 

 her, and he said he did not care if she starved to death, and 

 treated her accordingly. I bought her, tamed her down, and she 

 is the first sound and hardy horse I have ever had since. I would 

 like to give some of your Long Island boys a chase with her. 

 Therefore my directions for feeding a western horse would be to 

 give him five ears of corn twice a day, and all the good oats and 

 hay he will eat, for a horse raised on corn, will grow poor on oats 

 and hay alone, but if he has been properly raised do not poison 

 him with corn." 



Mr. Bergen of Long Island said that the best feed for his farm 

 work horses was corn and oats mixed half and half, and then 

 g-round and mixed with cut hay. 



