RESEARCHES INTO THE CAUSES OF BLINDNESS. 411 
4th. To exchange the present mode of feeding for a better and 
more wholesome one ; nor would such an exchange cost more in 
the end. The damaged fodder and cooked potatoes given in the 
winter, and the almost exclusive use of green meat in the summer, 
destroy hundreds of horses; for these aqueous aliments, even while 
they in some measure seem to fatten the animals, enervate and 
debilitate them, and reduce them to a plethoric state, which offers 
a marked contrast to the general atony of the organs. This dispo- 
sition of the whole economy, so unnatural, must necessarily induce 
a peculiar disposition to contract certain diseases. 
5th. To stable the animals better, and protect them from the in- 
clemencies of the weather. 
6th. To compel the carters and horsekeepers to use the animals 
committed to their charge more humanely, and to forbid every thing 
approaching to violence, except in cases of absolute necessity. 
7th. To improve the natural meadows. 
The importance of this last object renders it necessary for us to 
enter into certain details of local interest that will be found to bear 
a general application. 
In passing through this country, we cannot fail of being struck 
on observing how little man has done in order to improve and profit 
by the advantages so bounteously bestowed by nature. Traversed 
as it is by rivers and springs, what luxuriant products might it be 
made to yield if the hand of industry were employed in directing 
the course of these fertilizing streams ! How soon would the 
whole aspect of the country be altered and improved under the be- 
neficial influence of judicious irrigation! Instead of scanty pas- 
tures, there would then be luxurious grass and meadows, yielding 
rich and abundant crops, and affording a plentiful supply of good 
fodder. 
Respecting these meadows, the soil of which consists of a turfy 
or peaty substance, or what cover the remains of unwooded forests, 
large trenches should be cut in them, by means of which the water, 
which would otherwise keep them always damp and marshy, maybe 
carried off, and at the same time the decaying roots or remainders 
of the trees should be removed. This will not only benefit the soil, 
but put an end to those emanations so prejudicial to man and beast. 
Various plants should be sown on the stony and barren declivities 
of the hills, and trees planted on the summits, in order to retain 
the vegetable mould, which is otherwise often washed away by the 
rushing torrents. If the agriculturists will only put in practice 
these few hints, which a regard for the public welfare leads us to 
offer, in a very few years the produce of the soil, and the improve- 
ments effected in the breeds of horses, will furnish them with a new 
and increasing source of wealth. 
[To be continued.] 
