GREEN FOOD SUITABLE FOR SOILING HORSES 261 



powerfully on the kidneys. As soon as the seed is nearly ripe in them, 

 they are nearly as stimulating as corn, and at that time only are they fit 

 for horses at work. This ought to be known to all horse-masters, or they 

 will be apt to make the mistake of giving young vetches to horses at work, 

 and old ones to those which are put by to be freshened up. 



Lucerne is a good kind of green food, being neither so relaxing as young 

 vetches, nor so stimulating as old ones. 



Rye-grass is chiefly to be recommended as coming very early in the year, 

 when no other kind of green food can be obtained. 



Saintfoin is very similar to clover in its effects upon the horse, but is 

 not quite so fattening. 



Green Oats are only given where the land is so poor that it will not 

 produce clover or vetches. The crop is a very light one, and in an 

 economical point of view it is not to be recommended, excepting for the 

 reasons given above. 



GoRSE, Furze, or Whin makes a good food for horses that are not 

 doing fast work, and in those situations where it can be procured it is 

 most economical. As a change it acts quite as beneficially as any other 

 green food, and sometimes it is the only kind which can be procured. 

 The following is the method of using it : — It is cultivated by sowing it 

 with a crop of barley or oats, and it is fit to cut the second autumn after 

 planting. It is then mown every year during the winter, as required, 

 with a common scythe, close to the ground. A tolerably good soil, dry 

 enough for this plant, will cut from seven to ten tons per acre; and the 

 same land has been cut for fourteen years without loss of quantity or 

 quality, but after that time it required to be given up and a fresh planta- 

 tion made on other land, as the roots became decayed. The plant best 

 adapted for the purpose is very common in England, but is called the 

 French Furze, and it grows well upon an old woodland, stocked up, such 

 as is often useless for other purposes ; but it must be dry. Half-an-acre 

 of this land is, on the average, enough to keep a horse twenty weeks ; on 

 rich, loamy, dry land a quarter of an acre will serve for the same period, so 

 that an acre of land may be made to keep two small cart-horses for more 

 than a year, though it is better to give them grass in the summer. On 

 the large scale, the mowing, carting, cutting, and bruising cost not quite 

 a penny a bushel ; but for small stables the expense would of course be 

 greater. As, however, this item is generally a part of the groom's daily 

 work, it is seldom taken into the calculation. The quantity of seed 

 required is 20 lbs. per acre, sown broadcast ; but it should be drilled as 

 near in the rows as will admit of hand hoeing for the first year or two, if 

 the land is inclined to run to grass. It is not necessary to manure it, 

 though in its consumption it creates a great deal. When once sown and 

 well rooted, it yields a great quantity of food for cattle, at no other expense 

 than the cutting, bruising, etc. In those districts where winter food is 

 short, it answers well to mow it as soon as the grass is gone, and then 

 it lasts till grass comes again. If there is a threatening of snow, it is 

 necessary to mow some quantity beforehand, as it will keep for some days 

 unbruised. 



Ensilage, which has come into general use of late years for ruminant 

 animals, is unfit for horses. 



