AMERICAN PLOWS IN FRANCE. 
329 
AMERICAN PLOWS IN FRANCE. 
In our last number, page 319, under the head 
of American Plows in Europe, we quoted from 
Mr. Johnson’s letter, what that eminent agricul¬ 
turist, Count de Gourcey, said of th jm in France. 
Since this we have been called upon by Mr. 
Taintor of Connecticut, who sent these plows of 
our manufacture to Monsieur Pichat, Director of 
the National Merino flocks at Rambouillet. Mr. 
T. was so obliging as to hand us the following, 
which was translated for our pages by his ac¬ 
complished daughter. 
Rambouillet , 20 th Feb. 1851. 
?It Dear Sir:— We received in good season, 
rea”y remarkable plows you sent us, for 
which please accept our most sincere thanks. 
For my own part I feel especially grateful, for 
the plow destined for me is a perfect model. I 
have tried it myself and am quite enchanted 
with it. The moveable point, so easily adjust¬ 
ed at the option of the plowman, without affect¬ 
ing the strength of the implement, strikes me 
as no less useful than ingenious. [It was a self- 
sharpening plow. —Eds.] 
Your opinion of our soil was entirely correct. 
From its nature it wears out our implements 
very fast, thus much increasing the expenses of 
repairs, &c. To convince you how much I value 
your plow, I need only tell you, that I shall have 
all mine hereafter built on the same plan. I in¬ 
tend taking all possible means to make it known, 
and to extend its use throughout France. In 
gratitude to you, sir, I wish it to be called the 
Taintor Plow; for its introduction has really 
been a great boon to my country. It shall ap¬ 
pear in the next agricultural exhibition at Ver¬ 
sailles, where, I have no doubt, it will be as 
highly appreciated as it deserves. 
I am, dear sir, very respectfully yours, 
Pichat. 
John A. Taintor, Esq., Hartford, Conn. 
CURE FOR FOUNDER. 
The horse, of all the domestic animals, is the 
most disposed and the most liable to accidents 
and disease, arising in part from his peculiar 
habits, but more generally from the use to which 
he is put; and perhaps, of all the diseases, there 
is not one of more frequent, and, at the same 
time, of so fatal occurrence to the value of a 
good horse, as the founders; which are of two 
kinds, and may be denominated chronic and 
acute. The former manifesting itself in a gen¬ 
eral stiffness of the limbs, and a contraction of 
the chest; the latter always the result of some 
immediate cause, and is most frequently induced 
by hard driving, with improper graining and 
watering. 
Some eight years ago, it was my misfortune to 
have a valuable horse badly foundered in his 
fore feet. Being ignorant of the disease and its 
consequences, I placed him in the hands of a 
celebrated veterinarian, with a request that hf3 
should spare no pains or labor to effect a cure. 
He commenced operations by applying the hot 
bath to the feet, legs and breast, and at the same 
time bleeding in the neck and feet, opening a 
vein in each foot, near where the hair joins the 
hoof. At the first bleeding he took about ten 
quarts of blood, without apparently affecting the 
animal. The second day, I think we adminis¬ 
tered some physic. This process of bathing, 
bleeding, and physicking, was kept up as often as 
every third or fourth day for the space of ten 
weeks. The horse, at that time, had so far re¬ 
covered as barely to hobble out of the stable. 
This mode of treatment was continued at inter¬ 
vals, and in about six months my doctor pro¬ 
nounced the horse well, but it was at least eigh¬ 
teen months before he was entirely free from 
all symptoms of the disease; having, during 
that time, lost the entire hoofs from his fore 
feet—new ones having grown out in their stead. 
As bad luck would have it, about two years 
after the first accident, the same horse was again 
foundered, and if possible, worse than at the first 
time. Feeling that the expense and trouble of 
a second cure would amount to more than the 
value of the horse, I ordered the stableman to 
take him into the back yard; I then called the 
blacksmith, had the shoes taken from his feet, 
hoofs pared off as thin as possible, and with a 
tool, such as lumbermen mark boards with, cut 
the arteries in each toe, just at the point of the 
frog. The blood continued to run until the 
horse dropped down, when it stopped, and in a few 
minutes he rallied and got up. I then took a half 
barrel tub, filled it with water, and placed the 
horse’s feet in it; I had near, a large box of ice, 
(it being July,) from which the tub was con¬ 
stantly supplied, until about one hundred pounds 
were consumed, requiring about fourteen hours. 
So intense was the heat in the feet and legs, 
that a constant steam ascended from the water, 
the horse remaining perfectly quiet, and appar- 
antly free from pain. At this point of time he 
was taken with the shakes; I put my hand to 
his feet, and found them perfectly cold to the 
touch. I then had him removed from the tub 
to the stall, and wrapped in blankets; where he 
had stood perhaps five minutes, when he dropped 
apparently dead; but by applying the straw 
