Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1907-05-23
Saint Maru's Beacon



the horse is a simple matter. Not
30. however. The grass you feed.
the grain you grow or buy, will
contain only those elements that
composed the ground on which they
grew.
Il il true that grass and grains
alike take some properties from the
air. but thesesre the gases, carbonic
acid and nitrogen. The horse him
self takes the oxygen he uses from
the air. All the other elements
that the horse requires he must get
out Of the ground. and ground diff
fers es much as do the climates of
different sections. In one locality
the land will be rich in lime and
poor In potash, in another it will be
rich In iron and potash and contain
but little lime. In another region
IL will be rich in every necessary
element excepting phosphorus, and
so on through a long scale of varia-
tons.
Chloride Of sodium. a substance
containing two essential elements
Of the horses body, sodium and
chlorine, is but little contained in
any food stuff. so. TO have it in the
horses body it must be given TO
him separately.
Salts GREAT FUNCTIONS.
Common salt plays three great
functions In the horses body.
First-It furnishes his gastric
juice with its needed acid.
Seconds furnishes him soda
for his bile and blood.
Third-It assists In the passage
OF the digested foods into the lymph
vessels and into the blood vessels.
Il assists in the passage of the food
elements from the blood vessels into
the tissues.
A COMaoN MYSTERY EXPLAINED.
Many OF my readers no doubt have
noticed that on a given farm the
horses would thrive on one field,
while on another they would not do
nearly so well. In such cases the
pasture Of the field that did not give
good results would appear just as
abundant as that in the field on
which the horses did do well. The
cause Of this variation on the same
farm is due TO the fact that one field
lacked some necessary element
which the other field possessed.
As the soil is. so are the plants
grown on il. A complete soil fur
uishes complete provender, an in
complete soil furnishes incomplete
provender.
Right here l want to go on record
as saying that no region of country
is naturally fitted to produce the
best possible results in the way OF
furnishing proper nutriment for
horses. Nowhere is the land uni.
form as to its constituents. In a
single 40 acre field, in almost any
location. there will be several varia-
lions in the composition OF its soil.
In proof of this. fence off ten
acres and put just enough horses in
the enclosure so that they will have
feed in plenty. Take ten other
horses and give them large range.
Then note the difference at the end
Of the season in the condition of the
two sets of horses. Those with the
large range will invariably be found
20 have thrived better than those in
the small enclosure.
Why is this so? | will answer
that those horses in the small past.
ure are almost certain to lack some
important essential ia their food
while those on the larger range will
be guided by the sense of smell and
taste TO locations that contain in
their plants the element or elements
that were absent in the smaller
pasture.
Wild animals who range over a
vast territory are usually created
true 70 gwen standard, because
they get little here and there OF
all the needed mineral elements. as
they feed. being governed by their
instinct to take the food that con-
tains what they require.
How 10 TELL WHEN Your HORSE Is
Nor GETTING THE NEEDED ELE-
MENTs IN His FooD.
First-The horse so lacking will
not thrive as he should; his hair
does not look well, he wants to eat
unnatural substances such as dirt.
fence rails. tree bark and even dung.
Second-lf deficient in the lime
phosphates, his bone will be small
and trifling, and limbs of bad shape.
he viii be subject to splints, spavins,
ring bones. and even big head"
Third-lf iron is the element he
lacks bis coat viii be staring, his
tongue fabby and pale.
Fourth II deficient in potash be
will b thin. big in the belly and