THE CULTIVATOR. 
135 
THE HORSE. 
The foot and leg of the horse exhibits a most curious 
adaptation of complicated means to produce a given re¬ 
sult; and as these parts are the seat of several diseas¬ 
es, and liable to serious injury, and are besides but lit¬ 
tle understood, we have given from Youatt’s Work on 
the Horse, an engraving affording a fine illustration of 
the parts, their relative position, and enabling the far¬ 
mer to trace the seat of some of those complaints to 
which this noble animal is subject. The references will 
point out these parts and their arrangement, fully, as 
shown in section. 
[Fig. 77.] 
s The shank-bone. 
h The upper and larger pastern-bone. 
c The sessamoid-bone. 
d The lower or smaller pastern-bone. 
e The navicular or shuttle-bone. 
f The coffin-bone or bone of the foot. 
g The suspensory ligament inserted into the sessamoia-bone. 
k A continuation of the suspensory ligament inserted into the 
smaller pastern-bone. _ 
i The small inelastic ligament, tying down the sessamoid-bone 
to the larger pastern-bone. _ 
k A long ligament reaching from the pastern-bone to the 
knee. 
1 The extensor tendon inserted into both the pasterns and the 
coffin-bone. 
m The tendon of the perforating flexor inserted into the cotim- 
bone, after having passed over the navicular bone, 
n The crust or wall of the foot. 
o The inner or sensible frog. 
p The cleft of the horny frog. « 
q A ligament uniting the navicular bone to the smaller pas- 
tern. _ 
r A ligament uniting the navicular bone to the coffin-bone, 
s The sensible sole, between the coffin-bone and the horny 
sole. 
t The horny sole. 
u The coronary ring of the crust. 
v The sensible laminae to which the crust is attached. 
w The seat of the navicular joint lameness. 
x The covering of the coronary ligament from which the 
crust is secreted. 
2 Place of bleeding at the toe. 
It will be seen that the engraving exhibits six bones, 
in whole or in part, viz: the leg or shank-bone, the 
sessamoid-bone, the large pastern-bone, the small pas¬ 
tern-bone, the coffin-bone, and the navicular or shuttle- 
bone. The oblique or slanting manner in which these 
bones rest on each other, and the peculiar manner in 
which the powerful ligaments of the leg and foot are 
placed to support them in this position, will be seen at 
once. Much of the character and ability of the horse 
for particular kinds of service, is depending on the de¬ 
gree of this obliquity in the bones of the foot. The 
race horse, and the horse intended for the saddle, re¬ 
quire a length of the pastern-bones, and an obliquity in 
their position that would be objectionable or fatal in 
the horse intended for labor in the field, or heavy draft 
on the roads. The race horse requires these bones to 
be dng, and the inclination of them to be great, in order to 
have them in the best position for large and rapid strides; 
the saddle horse or hunter, requires something of the 
same property, though in a less degree, to enable him 
to carry a rider easily, and make the leaps at times re¬ 
quired in the chase. In the heavy team horse, this ob¬ 
liquity would be destructive, as the effort in drawing 
would press the foot into an angle so acute as to rup¬ 
ture the tendons and destroy the horse. The pastern- 
bones of the draft horse, then, require to be shorter, lar¬ 
ger, and much less oblique than those of the saddle or 
race horse. It is to the upright or pillar like form and 
position of the bones of the foot, that the hard jolt¬ 
ing movement of the draft horse is to be attribu¬ 
ted ; and to the elastic spring which an oblique 
position of these bones give, the ease experienc¬ 
ed by the rider of a hunter or good saddle horse. This 
difference in obliquity produces effects observable in 
another way. The horse in which this slanting position 
of the bones is considerable, rarely kunckles or rolls his 
toes under or falls with his rider, unless by over exer¬ 
tion, the ligaments of the leg have become weakened. 
On the contrary, the horse with upright pasterns, is un¬ 
safe to ride from this cause, and the frequent recurrence 
of it is almost sure to be followed with ossification or 
hardening of the cartilages of the joints, and consequent 
lameness. 
The suspensory ligament (g,) exercises a most impor¬ 
tant influence in the movement of a horse. It is of the 
most dense and elastic description; is firmly secured to 
the sessamoid and pastern-bones; and while, as the 
horse usually stands, the tuft of the fetlock is some in¬ 
ches from the turf, when in rapid motion, or the weight 
is thrown violently on the feet, this tuft descends and 
sweeps the ground. Mr. Percivall, in his Veterinary 
Lectures, thus alludes to this ligament: 
“ The suspensory ligament, by its reaction instantaneously 
after extension, aids the flexor muscles in bending the pastern 
joints. The astonishing activity and expedition displayed in 
the movements of the race horse at speed, seem to be refera¬ 
ble in part, to the promptitude with which the suspensory liga¬ 
ment can act before the flexor muscles are duly prepared ; the 
latter we should say, catch as it were, and then direct the limb 
first snatched from the ground, by the powers of elasticity in 
this tendon.” 
Rupture of this ligament, or what is called on the 
turf, letting down, is one of the most serious injuries 
that can happen to the horse, but fortunately is of rare 
occurrence. Perfect quiet, bandages, and a high heeled 
shoe, afford the most probable means of relief; but this 
can never be considered more than partial or tempo¬ 
rary. 
The disease called grogginess, or 'weakness and tot¬ 
tering of the foreleg, indicated by kneeling, is undoubt¬ 
edly owing to ill judged, or cruel exertion; and when 
occurring in old or hard worked horses, rarely admits 
of cure. In younger animals, rest and freedom from 
exertion, for some time, may afford relief. 
The joint between the coffin-bone and the lower pas¬ 
tern is liable to sprain, and animals are not unfrequent- 
ly lame from this cause. The lameness is usually sud¬ 
den, and an inflammation is produced, causing heat 
and tenderness, principally around the coronet. Mr. 
Youatt says: 
“There is no species of lameness more confounded with af¬ 
fections of the shoulder than this, because it is the custom of ig¬ 
norant and prejudiced persons to trace every lameness to the 
shoulder, which is not palpably referable to some other part.” 
It is after violent and repeated sprains of the coffin 
and pastern joints, that inflammation of the periosteum 
or membrane covering the bone ensues, a deposition of 
bony matter takes place, which usually increases until 
it is visible, when it is known by the name of ringbone, 
one of the most obstinate diseases to which the horse is 
subject. 
“ Ringbone commences in one of the pasterns, and usually 
about the pastern joint, but it rapidly spreads, and involves not 
only the pastern-bones, but the cartilages of the joint. Where 
the first deposite of bone is on the lower pastern, and on both 
sides of it, and produced by violent inflammation of the liga¬ 
ments, it is recognized by a slight enlargement or bony tu¬ 
mor, on one or both sides of the foot, and just above the 
coronet. * * * At this time the lameness is not very conside¬ 
rable, and it is not impossible to remove the disease, by active 
blistering or the application of the cautery; but there is so 
much wear and tear in this part of the animal, that the inflam¬ 
mation and consequent disposition to the formation of bone, 
spread rapidly, producing irreparable injury, unless prompt¬ 
ly arrested.” 
Ringbone is more frequent in the hind than fore¬ 
feet, owing perhaps to the greater force exerted on the 
ligaments in propelling the horse forward ; yet on the 
hind feet the lameness caused is not so great, as here it 
is principally confined to the ligamentary parts, and the 
bones do not suffer so much from violent concussion as 
in the fore foot. But wherever it appears, it is one of 
the most serious evils that afflict or injure the horse, 
and when the bony deposite begins to spread, the disease 
is incurable. The multitude of recipes for its cure are 
either the result of sheer quackery, or are applicable 
to the first stages of the disease. After this peroid has 
passed, and the bony deposite is formed, permanent 
lameness may be expected. 
COOKED AND UNCOOKED FOOD. 
There is in the Maryland Agricultural Reports, a re¬ 
cord of an experiment of this kind, conclusive in favor 
of the cooked food; though from some cause, the gain 
in either.case was not such as ought to take place when 
hogs are well fed. This defect was probably owing to 
the breed, as it is well known that some breeds take on 
flesh with more than double the rapidity of others. We 
give in a condensed form, the substance of the Report. 
On the first day of December four shoats of the same 
breed and nearly of the same size, were selected from a 
lot of 90 hogs ; two of which, weighing 185 pounds, were 
put by themselves, and “ were fed on one gallon of 
shelled Indian corn, weighing seven pounds, to each, for 
every 24 hours, and as much water as they wanted.” 
This was a full supply, and though not always all con¬ 
sumed, was generally so. “ For the two pigs whose 
weight together made 173 pounds, seven pounds of 
good Indian corn meal, by measure ten pints, were made 
into good mush or hasty pudding, and divided between 
them, for every 24 hours.” Thus these last, had exact¬ 
ly half the amount of corn given them that the first re¬ 
ceived. The cooking was done daily, and took an hour 
and a half. The seven pounds, or ten pints, when made 
into pudding “ weighed an average of thirty pounds, and 
measured three gallons.” The evening feed of mush 
was usually warm, that of the morning cold. Between 
the two pigs fed on cooked food, there was a difference 
of nine pounds, and while the allowance of fifteen 
pounds to the smallest, was as much as he could eat, the 
other was always greedy and sharp set. 
Before being killed, on the 4th of January, they were 
all again weighed ; and those that had been fed on the 
corn, were found to have gained, one five pounds, and 
the other twenty, on the same daily allowance of seven 
pounds each. Of the pair fed on cooked food, or mush, 
and the daily allowance of which was 3| pounds of 
meal each, the greedy one had gained 23 pounds, and 
the other 21 pounds. This is no great gain, to be sure, 
but taken in connection with other experiments of the 
kind, it gives rise to the important question,—whether, 
when so much corn is annually fed to hogs, if a saving 
of one-half can be made by cooking it, is it not well wor¬ 
thy the attention of farmers to adopt such a mode, and 
provide a proper apparatus 1 
VALUE OF ASHES. 
Professor Jackson, in one of his lectures in Boston, 
in illustrating the manner in which soils might be ren¬ 
dered fertile, said that—“a farm within his knowledge, 
which was a blowing sand, a pine barren, and almost 
hopeless, on which ten bushels of corn to an acre could 
scarcely be grown, by the judicious application of ashes, 
had been made to produce forty or fifty bushels to the 
acre.” We do not question the correctness of Dr. Jack¬ 
son’s statements. Our observation has convinced ns 
that on sandy soils, with the exception of clay marl, 
there is nothing more beneficial in the application to 
such soils, than ashes; and very fortunately, unless un¬ 
common quantities of acid exist in such soils, leached 
ashes are nearly as beneficial as unleached ones. Ash¬ 
es do what lime cannot; they render the soil more tena¬ 
cious of moisture, and although their action is not as 
prompt or efficient on cold sour soils, they are for the 
reason assigned, considered as valuable on light sandy 
ones. Of this fact the farmers on the light soils of Long 
Island and New-Jersey, are well aware, and in the ga 
thering and application of ashes, find a certain source of 
profit. 
PEAT AS A MANURE. 
Peat, it is well known, is a vegetable substance pro¬ 
duced by successive growths and decay of sphagneous 
or mossy plants, with a slight intermixture of other ve¬ 
getable and earthy matter. It has formerly been con¬ 
sidered worthless as a manure, as notwithstanding its 
nearly pure vegetable nature, its application injured in¬ 
stead of benefiting land, rendering it apparently more 
wet and cold, and aiding the growth of nothing but sor¬ 
rel. Science has, however, at last been brought to act 
upon it, and it is found that its great defect is the large 
quantity of acid it contains, and that by neutralizing 
this, by the addition of some alkali, it becomes a valua¬ 
ble manure. Various methods have been adopted for 
doing this. By making a compost heap of three parts 
of peat and one part of stable manure, a slight ferment¬ 
ation is produced, by which the acid is corrected, and 
decomposition effected. “By mixing it with lime and 
animal matter or manure, ammoniacal gas is evolved, 
which dissolves the peat and converts it into a power¬ 
ful manure.” In Rhode Island, considerable quantities 
of manure are made by mixing the fish called vianhaden, 
of which large numbers are taken in the bays, with peat 
or swamp mud, in the proportion of one load of fish to 
ten cart loads of peat or mud. Dr. Tackson says the 
rotting of the fish decomposes the peat, and this absorbs 
the gasses from the decaying fish, converting the mass 
into an active manure, in some cases increasing the 
crops to which it is applied, fifty per cent. In short, the 
farmer who has, what was formerly most dreaded, a 
peat bog on his farm, may consider himself as in pos¬ 
session of an invaluable source of first rate manure. 
PROOFS OF INFILTRATION. 
The question of infiltration, or the tendency of vege¬ 
table and animal matters to descend in soils, is a mat¬ 
ter of considerable importance, as on it is greatly de¬ 
pending the decision of the proper position of manure 
in the soil. Some maintaining that manures never sink 
below where the ground is moved, advocate the placing 
of manures deep in the soil; others believing that the 
most valuable parts, the soluble salts, in such cases spe- 
dily pass beyond the reach of the plants, prefer a slight 
covering, that allows the manure to remain as near the 
surface as possible. On this subject Dr. Jackson makes 
the following remarks :— 
“ The infiltration of manures is doubted by some, but the 
condition of our wells prove it. The water in a barn-yard is 
never pure. As much as a tea-spoon full of vegetable matter 
to a gallon is often obtained from waters that are considered 
pure. This may be seen by any one who will evaporate the 
Boston water to dryness. In the purest water obtained from 
lakes, lrj grains of vegetable matter to the gallon may be ob¬ 
tained. In the water of Boston 38 grains are found to the 
gallon. Soils brought from 150 feet depth in this neighbor¬ 
hood, are found charged with vegetable matter.” 
The Massachusetts Commissioner, Mr. Colman, 
says:— 
“ There are salts of lime enough in the waters of Boston 
wells drank every year, to make ten statues as large as Lot’s 
wife, and as to the other ingredients or impurities which, ac¬ 
cording to Dr. Jackson’s account exist in it, they are not to be 
named.” 
Such facts prove, incontestibly, that manures do infil¬ 
trate, or descend, and the natural inference, therefore, 
would be, that to produce the best and greatest effect, 
they should be buried near the surface. 
