AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
155 
HOUSES, 
Those who have the care of horses are 
frequently very negligent in the manner of 
discharging their duty. There is no animal 
in existence so susceptible to the effects of 
dirt, impure air, bad bedding, &c., as the 
horse. All excrements in a horse’s stable, 
however small in quantity, should be re¬ 
moved at least once a day, and a clean, dry 
place left for the animal to stand, or lie down 
upon. Manyahorse when stabled for an hour’s 
feeding, is placed in a close, filthy place, 
without a breath of pure air—there obliged 
to make his meal. We would almost as 
soon think of eating in such a place our¬ 
selves, as of compelling a horse to do it. If 
you have no windows in your stable, by all 
means make one at once, or knock off a 
board, to let in light and pure air. When 
you have removed the droppings from the 
stable at night, strew the floor with dry 
straw or muck ;—the value of the manure 
will more than repay the expense—besides 
rendering your horse healthier. 
Horses take cold very easily ; for this rea¬ 
son they should never be turned from a warm 
stall, where they have perspired for an hour, 
directly into a damp pasture. Neither should 
a horse ever be left to lie down over night 
in a damp pasture where there is no shelter, 
but let a shed be built, to which they can re¬ 
tire at night. A horse will never lie down 
in an open lot when he can find a place of 
shelter ; and if there is nothing better, they 
will always get near a fence or tree at night. 
COEN STALKS FOR HEAVES. 
To the Editor of the American Agriculturist: 
In your paper for the present month, at 
page 125, is a most excellent article entitled 
“Cheap food for Horses”—the whole of 
which I can endorse. I wish to say in addi¬ 
tion, that from several years experience 1 
have found corn-stalks to be the very best 
winter fodder that can be given to horses. 
A long time since, when Jesse Buel published 
the Albany Cultivator, a communication ap¬ 
peared in that paper recommending corn 
stalks “ as a cure for heaves,” upon which Mr. 
Buel, remarked, “ that his hack horse being 
afflicted with that troublesome complaint, 
had been fed on corn stalks for one year, 
during which time he had shown no signs 
of heaves,” and added, “ we do not say the 
horse is cured, but this we do say, that since 
he has been so fed he has exhibited no indi¬ 
cations of heaves.” (I quote from memory.) 
I had about that time purchased a fine 
young mare for $20—the lowness of the 
price was inconsequence of her being afflict¬ 
ed with heaves. She was immediately fed 
on corn stalks, and the heaves disappeared, 
and she did half the work of a farm of 80 
acres, besides all the running round, as her 
mate in the harness was used for breeding. 
Two years after she was sold for $70. The 
advance of $50 I put down as the net profit 
on one year’s subscription to an Agricultural 
paper, enough to pay for one nearly if not 
quite a life time, should nothing else of 
value have been derived.—J. W. DeLeRee. 
Farmingdale, L. I., March, 1856. 
SWEENEY IN HORSES-IS IT A DISEASE ? 
BV WM. SOMERVILLE, V. S., BUFFALO, N. Y. 
Of the many diseases to which horses are 
subject in the western country, there is none 
more common, nor any which receives such 
varied treatment, as the above named. 
What is Sweeney I It is said to be a dis¬ 
ease or falling away of the muscles that 
cover the upper part of the scapula (should¬ 
er blade,) at nearly its termination, the hol¬ 
low is about the size of a man’s hand, and 
the skin on the part and vicinity is repre¬ 
sented to be grown so fast to the sub-tissue 
that it is necessary to pull at it (the skin) 
several times a day, while some infallible 
remedy is applied. In these remarks I 
would beg the reader to understand, I do 
not deny that the shoulder is not at any time 
diseased ; but as lameness is commonly con¬ 
fined to joints, I generally find on examina¬ 
tion that the muscles in the vicinity of the 
scapula at its junction with the humerus to 
be the seat of the lameness, and such lame¬ 
ness to be caused by slips, sprains, getting 
the foot in the manger box, sudden pulling 
on heavy loads, &c. 
As to this sweeney or hollow part of the 
shoulder being the cause or seat of lameness, 
I have always protested against such, under 
the three following heads :— First .- I have 
never been able to see any notice of such 
disease in the best works written by the 
most eminent authors of the past and pres¬ 
ent ; Secondly : I have generally found the 
cause to be often occasioned by diseases of 
the feet. And Thirdly: If action will de¬ 
velop muscle, a want of action must cause 
a disease or atrophy of muscle, and as the 
shoulder blade has a broad and flat surface, 
it is to be expected that such disease will 
sooner be detected at this part than any 
other. 
Doctors or men who profess to tieat or 
cure sweenied shoulders, seldom know much 
of the anatomy of the horse. When called 
on to see a patient that is lame, or has been 
crippled on the pavement for some time, he 
always selects the sweeney part as the cause, 
as he says he can see it and that’s enough. 
The feet are never examined as to heat; there 
may be corns, contracted feet, internal dis¬ 
ease of the feet, such as navicular, lameness, 
ossification of cartilage, diseased laminai or 
coronary enlargement—nothing is known of 
them ; but horses lame from such, always 
go low and are frequently tripping. It is not 
strange that his shoulder or shoulders should 
fall away. Why? because the muscles have 
not been used ; he is afraid to lift his feet up 
and strike them against a hard road. 
As I have remarked before, the treatment 
of sweeney and the remedies to effect a 
cure are various. They consist of rubbing 
the part with corn-cobs and loosening the 
skin by pulling it with the hand, applying 
angle-worm oil, inflating the skin with air, 
making incisions and inserting peas, allowing 
them to work to the lower part of the shoul¬ 
der ; blistering and swimming ; the last rem¬ 
edy will be the most reasonable, as the horse 
will use his shoulders without having any¬ 
thing to come ‘in contact with his feet. 
Otherwise under such treatment for weeks 
and months, he is standing all that time on 
dry boards with caulked shoes. The cavity 
disappears from the effect of the stimulants 
applied, but on using the horse it is discov¬ 
ered that he is as lame as before. And the 
worst of it is, the disease has had time to as¬ 
sume a chronic form, which may be arrested 
although never permanently cured. 
Gentlemen of extensive information and 
owners of valuable horses, from coming in 
contact with men who treat such imaginary 
diseases, are generally misled. They are 
inclined to look to the shoulder as being the 
seat of all lameness of the anterior parts. 
Inquire of the sweeney practitioner if he is 
able to remove bone spavin 1 He will tell 
you he can cut off spavins, ringbones, kill 
the botts, cut out hooks, and, in fact, cure 
all diseases, curable or incurable, to which 
the horse is subject. 
In conclusion I would ask the reader to 
think and consider how much judgment is 
used in the treatment of this fancied disease, 
its causes, &c., and he may be able to agree 
with me, that sweeney first came into exist¬ 
ence and is practiced on at present by men 
who think there is no other disease in these 
parts, and who know nothing of the diseases 
I have ust noticed. 
If my remarks on the above subject may 
in any manner lessen the unnecessary tor¬ 
ture to which the horse is at times subject¬ 
ed to, I shall be well satisfied ; if not he 
must hobble along as before, although the 
hair may be, as in some cases, burnt off his 
shoulders.—Am. Veterinary Journal. 
Cultivating Barley. —One Man's opinionl 
—Mr. Drofannah Knox, of Mt. Healthy, Ohio 
writes to the Genesee Farmer : 
The soil best suited for barley is of a light, 
dry, nature, but we raise it here on clay sub¬ 
soil, with success. I sow as early as the 
ground can be got into a mellow condition 
after sowing the oats. We sow at the rate 
of two bushels per acre. If it is late in the 
spring, a little more should be sown. A light 
harrow should be*used to cover the seed. 
Twenty-five to thirty bushels per acre is 
considered, with us, a good crop. If the land 
is wet, it is better not to sow until it works 
fine, even if you have to wait till late in the 
season. Barley is an excellent crop after 
potatoes, when the land has been well culti¬ 
vated 
Wash for Barns.— The Horticulturist gives 
the following as the best for this purpose: 
Hydraulic cement, 1 peck ; freshly slaked 
lime, 1 peck; yellow ochre (in powder), 4 
lbs.; burnt umber, 4 lbs.; the whole to be 
“ dissolved ” in hot water, and applied with 
a brush. 
We Presume' Not. —The editor of the 
Woonsocket Patriot makes merry over the 
mistake of an old Shank-hai hen of his, that 
has been “ setting” for five weeks upon two 
round stones and a piece of brick ! “ Her 
anxiety,” quoth he, “ is no greater than ours 
to know what she will hatch. If it proves a 
brickyard, that hen is not for sale.” 
