WATER FARCY. 263 
its character. Water farcy is dropsy of one hind leg; very rarely does 
the malady involve two members. Such is the form of the admonition ; 
but the labor undiminished, or the dropsy removed by means of coarse 
and drastic medicines, the local affection speedily becomes a constitu- 
tional disorder; and true farey releases an ill-used slave from custody 
of the tyrant who has abused his power. 
Horses that are liable to water farcy are mostly of the heavy breed, 
or are animals which perform slow work. It is usual, on a Saturday 
night, for the driver to throw much provender before such creatures, and 
then to lock the stable door, satisfied he has discharged his duty. 
Often he does not visit them on the Sunday; the creatures pass “the 
best of all the seven” confined in a close atmosphere, and eating food 
which they have contaminated by breathing upon. The man observes 
the day of rest himself, and takes his ease; for the “brutes” he has 
heaped up rack and man- 
ger—so they have to eat; 
what more can dumb an- 
imals require? Upon 
opening the door on Mon- 
day morning, he may see 
one horse with a swollen 
leg. The drudge general- 
ly, not invariably, is lame, 
and holds the enlarged 
member in the air; the 
coat stares; the aspect is 
. > THE CARTER’S FIRST APPEARANCE IN THE STABLE ON A 
dull; and much of the ia seca cian 
abundance which was 
placed before the animal remains untouched. The poor creature was 
too tired and in too much pain to eat; but agony has created a con- 
suming thirst, and it will drink the foulest water. 
The horse doctor is sent for. In the opinions of veterinary surgeons 
there are two kinds of water farey—one springs from debility, the other 
is accompanied with irritable symptoms. It, however, requires no vast 
knowledge of physiology to recognize debility and irritability as the chil- 
dren of one parent; indeed, most veterinarians admit the sameness in 
practice, however much they may dispute it in theory. They bleed, purge, 
and send in half a dozen diuretic balls, when, the swelling having been 
removed by such coarse measures, the horse, still further weakened, is 
once more put to its work. 
Let every man who keeps cart-horses view a case of water farcy as a 
caution, proceeding direct from nature, that the management of his stable 
