42 
DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 
Efl'tCt on the Offspring. — It is now generally known that the embryo 
offspring partakes of the health or condition of the dam, therefore the 
food with which the mother is supplied must affect the foal. This is a 
subject too commonly disregarded by breeders, although it is constantly 
demonstrated after the foal comes into life. Ifa mare be supplied with 
food which produces relaxation, her foal will be in the same state; and 
constipation is recognized in a similar manner. The propriety of sup- 
plying a brood-mare with the best and most suitable kinds of food dur- 
ing pregnancy cannot be too strongly impressed. In the management 
of young stock every effort should be made, by giving them food which 
is adapted to the purpose, to bring them to maturity as early as possi- 
ble ; by these means the texture and development of the bones, the 
sinews, and the muscles is greatly accelerated. The constitution of 
each animal must be consulted, and it is highly important, it the acme 
of condition is to be attained by animals when they arrive at an age of 
maturity, that the growth and gradual development ot their frames 
should be composed^ of those healthy and invigorating materials, upon 
which the structure of condition can be raised. To accomplish this, 
hay, oats, and occasionally beans, must form the principal items of 
food, and grass should be provided only in limited supplies during the 
summer months. . ... 
Grass, it may be observed, loses two-tliirds of its weight, and a still 
greater proportion of bulk, when converted into hay ; but that extra- 
neous matter consists of moisture, possessing no portion of fibrine, con- 
sequently it contains none ot those elements which increase muscular 
development. If a horse be supported upon grass alone, he must eat a 
vast quantity — equal to more than three times the proportion ot hay 
to derive an equivalent amount of nourishment; being very full ot sap 
and moisture, it is quickly digested; consequently, the animal must be 
continually devouring it. This distends the stomach and bowels, and 
impairs the faculty of digestion ; for the digestive powers require rest, 
as well as the other organs of the body, if they are to be preserved in 
a healthy state. The muscular system is debilitated, and tat accumu- 
lates; flatulent colic or gripes is produced, which not unfrequently 
becomes constitutional. Nothing can be more erroneous than the anti- 
quated impression, that the purgative properties of young grass in the 
spring arc conducive to the healthy state ot the horse. "W hen the 
modus operand i of that description of food is explained, the supposition 
of its being calculated to produce beneficial effects must vanish. The 
young green herbage is extensively overcharged with sap and moisture, 
of a crude, acrimonious nature, and it exists so abundantly, that a con- 
siderable portion of it cannot be taken up by the organs destined for 
the secretion of urine, or by the absorbent vessels of the body ; a great 
quantity of this superfluous fluid, therefore, passes into the intestines, 
and is thus discharged in a watery state. But the mischief does not termi- 
nate immediately on the subsiding of the purgative action ; the absorb- 
ent vessels, having been overloaded, become distended and relaxed, and 
some time intervenes before they resume their healthy tone, under the 
most judicious treatment. This is clearly exemplified by the habitual 
tendency which many horses exhibit of having swelled legs. When 
