320 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



Barley was supplied to our horses broken or flattened, 

 and in spite of the fears of our labourers and neigh- 

 bours, and even the doubts of our veterinary surgeon, 

 they have preserved i/teir spirit, vigour, a shiyiingsJ/'m, 

 and good health ; and our saddle-horse has not relaxed 

 in his pace. In the meanwhile our teams have been 

 employed in working the Dombasle plough, drawn by 

 two animals only, on all our fallows, which are of a 

 close nature, stony, and often in rather steep undula- 

 tions. The work is continued at an average of ten 

 hours, and sometimes more. 



The ejections of the horses exhibit no indications of 

 the barley they receive, and it was not till the 6th July 

 that they ceased to have that ration, and resumed the 

 winter oats, of which the crop, injured by the frost of 

 the season, has been very scanty. We give it to them 

 flattened, and in less quantity than of the spring oats. 



What led me to speak of the ejections of our horses 

 was, that one day in going to Loches, the chief town of 

 the Arrondissement in which we are situated, we ob- 

 served upon the road horse-dung that was literally 

 cramwififf with grains of whole barley; and we judged 

 from that, that if our horses had received their rations 

 of barley unbroken, we should have seen, justified the 

 prediction which we had opposed, namely, that our 

 horses would lose their strength in eating barley. In 

 fact, a great part would have passed into the stomach 

 and intestines without being digested. Another ob- 

 servation that we have made is, that since our horses re- 

 ceive their corn broken or flattened, the fowls no longer 

 come to scratch in their dung to seek there the nourish- 

 ment ejected from the stomach of the animals. 



An old soldier has assured us that in mixing whole 

 barley with cut-straw, the horses would masticate and 

 digest it better. This is worth a trial. 



Since the experience of three months has proved to us 

 that broken barley can well supply the place of oats in 

 feeding horses, without injury to their vigour or health, 

 let us see by a reference to figures, what are the econo- 

 mic advantages to be derived from this substitution : 



8. d. 



1 Horse 17^ pints oats 8 J 



„ „ lOi pints barley 5| 



Saving 



2 Horse, 8^ pints oats . . 

 „ „ 5i pints barley 



Saving 



2 Other horees, 28 pints oats . . 

 „ i> 17^ pints barley., 



Saving 



The saving for the four horses is, therefore, as fol- 

 lows : 



First horse 3d. 



Second horse IJd, 



Third and fourth horses . . 5d. 



9id. per day. 

 Or £14 8s. Hid. pet year. 



The prices current given are those of the markets of 

 B16re, Amboise, Loches (Indres-et* Loire), for 1858. 



It appears that at the last market of Blere, which 

 is important, oats were worth 12 francs per hectolitre. 

 I ought to state that it is rarely that oats reach and 

 retain the price they have done since the harvest of 1857, 

 and that it ought to maintain and even surpass it after 

 that of 1858. Spring barley rarely exceeds the 

 price of 10 or 12 frances per hectolitre. That of winter 

 barley, or cscourg eon, hting lighter than that of spring, 

 but heavier than even winter oats, never attains those 

 rates. Cora IMillet, 



(Corresponding Member of the Imperial 

 and Central Society of Agriculture.) 



The following observations on the same subject, are 

 translated from the Agricultural Chronicle, of the 

 second fortnight of July 1858, in the Journal of Prac- 

 tical Agriculture of that month. 



" Our readers will see that Madame Millet has shewn 

 that the crushing of oats admits of a diminution of 

 allowance in a given proportion. This consequence has 

 been strongly opposed by M. de Behague, who adduces 

 an experiment, in which he had found a team consider- 

 ably weakened by the new system. But Messrs. 

 Renault and Moll have satisfactorily explained the 

 anomalies that they had observed in the use of crushed 

 or flattened oats. After crushing, that grain is nearly 

 doubled in volume or bulk ; and many agriculturists who 

 distribute the allowance to the cattle by bulk, have given 

 in crushed or flattened oats the same measure they were 

 accustomed to supply of whole oats, which was exactly 

 to reduce the food to the extent of one-half, imposing 

 upon the animal a severe fast. It is by weight only 

 that we can compare different allowances, such as has 

 constantly been done by M. Dombasle. To conclude 

 this incidental question, let us add that according to 

 men who fully understand horses, and feed a great num- 

 ber of them, the crushing is of no real service except to 

 old animals ; whilst for young horses, and other animals 

 in the strength of life, it is desirable to continue giving 

 them whole oats. 



" But it is no longer a question of oats, but of what 

 can be substituted in lieu of them .' Madame Millet 

 recommends crushed barley, in the proportion of 5} 

 pints of barley to 8^ pints of oats. M. de Behague 

 thinks that rye boiled may be recommended, in the 

 same proportion with oats as is given in barley above. 

 M. Bella states that he has found it useful to replace 

 half the allowance of oats by an equal quantity of boiled 

 rye. M. Bailly, who commonly gives about 201bs. of 

 oats, has substituted for this allowance 15ilbs. oats and 

 4 J lbs. of boiled rye. Everybody has acknowledged 

 that too great a proportion of either barley or rye oc- 

 casions founderings, whilst no inconveniences are ex- 

 perienced by mixing them in proper proportions. As 

 to the manner of administering the new food, opinions 

 appear to vary considerably ; and the question appears 

 to us to be determinable only hy extended experiments. 

 M. Delafond is of opinion that we ought to be con- 

 tented with a simple maceration in water ; the rye being 

 put into a cask, water is poured upon it to the extent 

 of filling up the interstices, and at the end of six hours 



