460 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
June  1,  1899. 
STUD  BABIES.— No.  2. 
The  young  foal  being  now  upon  his  legs  and  with  a  good  notion 
of  feeding,  either  directly  from  his  mother  or  indirectly  by  bottle 
from  a  cow,  we  will  consider  his  life  for  the  next  few  weeks. 
No  foal,  or  indeed  any  other  animal,  can  thrive  among  dirt,  so  it 
is  essenti.il  to  the  well  being  of  both  mare  and  foal  that  their  box 
should  at  once  be  thoroughly  cleansed.  Attention  must  be  paid  to 
the  cleansing  of  the  m  Ik  teats,  which  from  natural  causes  often 
become  objectionable.  It  can  easily  be  conceived  how  soon  the 
delicate  stomach  of  a  foal  may  be  thrown  wrong  by  the  reception  with 
the  milk  of  foreign  matter. 
Next  must  be  considered  the  housing  of  the  mare  and  foal. 
English  spring  eveather  is  particularly  treacherous,  bright  sunshine, 
sharp  winds,  sleety  showers,  follow  each  other  in  quick  succession — 
in  fact,  we  might  say,  “extremes  meet”  even  in  twenty-.'^our  hours. 
Fresh  air  and  ventilation  are  required,  but  no  draughts  or  chills.  Early 
fcals  cannot  expect  to  be  turned  out  soon,  exercise  they  must  have, 
and  if  the  weather  is  against  a  gentle  walk  round,  surely  there  is  on 
every  farm  a  yard  w'ell  shedded  where  exercise  is  obtainable. 
A  careful  man  will  gladly  give  up  half  an  hour  just  at  midday  to 
watching  mare  and  foal  out  for  a  stroll.  Coddling  will  not  do,  and  the 
stable  ought  to  incline  to  coolness  rather  than  stuffiness.  It  is 
a  practice  now  where  large  studs  are  housed  to  run  up  boxes  of 
wood.  We  have  known  several  cases  where  during  a  severe  spell  of 
wintry  weather  these  boxes  have  been  bitterly  cold,  and  the  manager 
has  been  at  his  wit’s  end  to  know  what  to  do  with  his  mares  and 
young  foals.  Those  foals,  however,  stand  a  better  chance  of  a  healthy 
start  than  others  which  ate  recklessly  taken  out  of  a  very  hot  close 
box  and  exposed  to  bitter  winds  and  bright  suns.  They,  poor  things, 
are  tempted  to  gallop  about  a  bit,  get  suddenly  chilled  and  fall  ready 
victims  to  pneumonia.  Be  on  the  watch  for  the  first  few*  days  when 
the  foal  is  tvrned  out,  and  bring  up  directly  should  the  sun  go  in  or  a 
heavy  shower  come  on.  Like  all  young  animals  the  foal  is  very 
imitative,  and  will  soon  try  to  share  wHh  its  mother  the  dry  food. 
See  that  this  dry  food  is  good  and  suitable.  It  is  a  fine  thing  when 
young  animals  begin  to  “  fend  ”  for  themselve.'^. 
“  Weaning  time”  is  a  movable  feast.  So  much  depends  on  the 
constitution  of  the  foal  and  on  its  ultimate  career.  A  weakly  foal 
must  have  its  mother’s  milk  as  long  as  possible — that  is,  taking  into 
consideration  her  welfare.  If  a  foal  be  of  wonderful  pedigree  and 
handsome  in  shape  and  size,  the  owner  naturally  wants  it  to  excel, 
and  therefore  will  keep  it  with  its  mother,  where  a  less  valuable 
animal  wmuld  bo  weaned.  Those  foals  intended  for  the  show  yard 
have  the  best  of  good  times — a  mother  solely  devoted  to  them,  and  all 
sorts  of  additional  choice  tood  supplied. 
Many  mares  have  to  resume  their  daily  tasks  while  their  offspring 
may  be  yet  young.  The  hours  of  separation  should  not  be  too  long, 
nor  should  the  mare  be  put  to  very  hard  work.  She  cannot  spend  her 
strength  two  avays.  Milk  must  be  generated,  and  to  be  good  she  must 
not  be  allowed  to  get  exhausted. 
For  the  same  reason  it  is  well  to  see  the  mare  has  access  to  good 
water,  and  that  her  diet  be  not  rapidly  changed.  Remember  change 
of  diet  may  easily  affect  the  fo,a’,  and  bring  on  obstinate  diarrhoea, 
and  diarrhoe.a  once  established  is  bad  to  get  rid  of,  indeed  its  ill  effects 
on  the  intestines  is  often  lifelong. 
There  are  other  ailments  to  which  foals  are  liable,  such  as  joint  ill, 
which  is  a  form  of  blood  poisoning.  It  may  occur  when  the  foal  is 
from  a  week  to  a  month  old,  and  is  usually  fatal.  Proceeding  as  it 
does  from  dirty  condition,  it  may  be  classed  among  the  “  preventible 
diseases,”  and  therefore  should  not  be  allowed  to  exist  in  a  well 
managed  stud.  This  ailment  begins  by  the  entrance  of  destructive 
organisms  into  the  blood  vessels  which  have  been  broken  by  accidental 
tearing  of  the  navel  cord  from  the  brdy  of  the  foal.  As  long  as  any 
such  wound  exists  it  should  be  most  carefully  dressed  with  some 
disinfectant,  carbolised  oil  for  choice,  and  the  dressing  ought  to  be 
attended  to  at  least  five  or  six  times  daily. 
Hernia  cr  rupture  is  not  an  uncommon  ailment  among  foals. 
Although  this  may  not  assume  serious  dimensions,  it  is  as  well  to 
call  in  professional  aid  at  once  and  have  the  matter  adjusted.  The 
“Vet”  will  know  exactly  what  to  do,  and  whether  it  is  a  case  for 
severe  or  simple  remedies. 
We  have  often  been  sorry  to  see  the  lack  of  care  exercised  for 
foals  after  they  are  weaned  and  during  the  first  winter  of  their 
lives.  They  are  too  often  turned  out  all  the  winter  on  grass  with 
a  very  insufficient  supply  of  hand  food.  Winter  grass  contains  little 
or  no  nutriment,  and  how  can  the  poor  animal  be  expected  to  grow 
and  thrive  on  an  empty  stomach.  We  do  not  believe  in  pampering 
them,  that  is  unnecessary,  but  a  liberal  supply  of  good  food  pays  for 
itself. 
You  want  bone  and  muscle  and  strength  for  work;  all  this  goes  in 
by  the  mouth.  It  is  only  a  short  childhood  that  horses  have — that  is, 
the  average  farm  horse,  and  he  must  make  the  best  of  tiiis  growing 
time  if  he  is  to  be  of  any  value  later  on.  There  is  such  a  thing  as 
going  to  the  other  extreme  and  overdoing  the  feeding  with  too  much 
dry  corn,  which  is  the  occasion  of  so  much  fever  in  the  feet.  There 
is  a  happy  mean  which  men  of  intelligence  will  arrive  at  without 
much  difficulty. 
WORK  ON  THE  HOME  FARM. 
The  cold  and  wet  weather  is  becoming  very  serious  for  farmers  of 
arable  land.  Grass  districts  may  be  looking  well  enough,  though  even 
they  would  do  better  now  with  a  higher  temperature,  and  no  doubt  the 
excess  of  moisture  is  in  favour  of  a  good  crop  of  hay. 
Spring  corn  is  making  poor  progress  ;  in  fact,  some  fields  seem  to  be 
progressing  backward.  Everywhere  we  hear  complaints  of  the  ravages 
of  wireworra,  and  there  has  been  no  chance  to  use  the  roller  for  some 
time,  so  the  worms  pursue  their  depredations  unchecked.  Nothing  can 
be  done  except  to  roll  when  possible  and  wait  for  warmth  to  force  the 
young  crops  out  of  danger. 
Wh.^ats  hold  their  own  fairly  well  considering  the  wet  season,  and 
give  much  better  promise  than  the  Barle5’s,  but  there  still  remains  a  little 
weeding  to  do,  as  the  crops  have  been  too  wet  to  work  amongst. 
Turnips  cannot  be  got  in  at  all,  for  the  laud  is  so  wet  that  if  they  were 
sown  they  would  do  no  good.  All  we  can  do  is  to  possess  our  souls  in 
patience  and  hope  for  a  change. 
The  young  Mangold  have  come  up  very  well,  but  are  at  a  standstill  ; 
a  sprinkling  of  nitrate  of  soda  dredged  by  hand  along  the  rows  of  young, 
plants  would  warm  them  up  and  keep  them  going. 
We  see  farmers  ftrying  to  get  their  land  ploughed  for  the  Turnip  crop, 
but  the  horses  could  not  be  worse  occupied.  Surely  there  is  some  muck 
to  be  got  out  into  hill  in  a  handy  situation  for  carting  out  and  spreading 
later  on.  If  not,  give  the  poor  things  a  rest. 
Potatoes  are  coming  through,  and  will  soon  need  to  be  skerried,  but 
not  until  the  land  is  dry  enough,  otherwise  the  horses’  feet  may  do  more 
harm  than  the  skerry  will  do  good.  The  Iron  Age  is  a  capital  horse  hoe- 
for  Potatoes. 
The  ewes  are  not  clipped  yet.  We  wish  they  were. 
METEOROLOGICAL  OBSERVATIONS. 
Camden  Squake,  London. 
Lat.  .51°  32'  40"  N.;  Long.  0°  8'  0"  W.;  Altitude  111  feet. 
Date. 
9  A.M. 
In  the  Day. 
Bain. 
1899. 
May. 
Barometer 
at  32°,  and 
Sea  Level 
Hygrometer 
Direc¬ 
tion  of 
Wind. 
Temp, 
of  soil 
at 
1  foot 
Shade Tem¬ 
perature. 
Radiation 
Tempera¬ 
ture, 
Dry. 
Wet. 
Max. 
Min. 
In 
Sun 
On 
Grass 
inchs 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
inchs. 
Sunday  . . . . 
21 
29-947 
59-2 
54-1 
N. 
54-2 
62-4 
52-0 
101-8 
48-2 
0-113- 
Monday  . . . . 
22 
29-992 
51-3 
50-8 
Calm. 
54-2 
61-1 
48-8 
88-7 
49-7 
0-032r 
Tuesday  . . . . 
23 
29-989 
60-1 
54-3 
W. 
52-8 
66-3 
44-8 
114-9 
39-3 
0-010 
Wednesday 
24 
-29-704 
50-8 
52-3 
s. 
53-2 
62-9 
49-9 
104-4 
45-1 
0-113. 
Thursday  . 
25 
-29-861 
48-9 
45-3 
N. 
63-6 
65-8 
47-2 
94-4 
47-9 
— 
Friday . 
26 
30-113 
48 -9 
43-6 
N. 
51-6 
56-4 
36-1 
99-2 
32-9 
— 
Saturday. . . 
27 
30-302 
49-1 
43-2 
N. 
50-0 
57-9 
36-1 
113-7 
31-4 
— 
29*087 
53-5 
49-1 
52 -S 
60-4 
45-0 
102-4 
42-1 
0-268. 
UEMARK.S. 
21st.— A  little  sun  in  mornins,  Hut  a  gloomy  day  ;  drizzle  in  evening,  rain  at  night. 
22nd.— Gloomy  and  humid  all  day,  with  drizzle  and  showers  till  l.aO  p.M. 
23rd.— Much  sunshine,  hut  cloudy  at  times  with  slight  showers  ;  bright  night. 
24th.— Generally  cloudy,  with  treqnent  sprinkles  of  rain,  and  heavy  rain  at 
0.30  P.Ji.;  but  occasional  sunshine. 
2yth. — Slight  showers  early  ;  overcast  till  10  A.M.,  then  fair,  with  frequent  faint 
sunshine. 
26th. — Sunny  at  times  in  morning  ;  overc.ast  afternoon  ;  bright  night. 
27th. — Sunny  early  and  .at  times  during  the  day,  but  a  good  deal  of  cloud. 
The  early  part  of  the  week  warmer,  the  latter  part  dull  and  cool,  with  a  trace 
of  frost  on  the  morning  of  the  27th. —G.  J.  Symons. 
