150 MODERN FAllllIEll. 



Carrots are said to amend the wind, purify and 

 sweeten the blood, and to replenish after the wast- 

 ings occasioned by disease or inordinate labour. 

 Mr. J. Lawson recommends them highly. They 

 are either given in spring or autumn to high-fed 

 horses, as a change of diet, at the rate of one feed 

 per day in the lieu of a feed of corn, or as full sub- 

 sistence to others. They are to be washed clean, 

 and, if large, cut into flat and sizeable pieces. Tlie 

 quantity of carrots for a feed is from half a peck to 

 a peck. 



Barley is the common food for horses in Arabia, 

 Spain, Portugal, and some parts of France. It is a 

 good wholesome food, though a strong unfounded 

 prejudice exists against its use in England. When 

 mixed with straw, nothing is better calculated to 

 keep horses in spirit and wind. Barley at first has 

 a tendency to purge horses. 



Wheat is not proper for horses ; for although its 

 high price precludes its use, yet its cohesive indi- 

 gestible properties, render it very dangerous food. 



It is indisputably a good practice to mix chopped 

 straw or hav with the grain. For as lord Pembroke 

 justly remarks, speaking of this practice. ' Every 

 grain goes to nourishment, none is to be found in 

 the dung, and three feeds of it go farther than four 

 that are given in the common way. But wheaten 

 straw and a little hay sometimes mixed with it is 

 excellent food. To a quarter of oats the same quan- 

 tity of chopped straw may be added.' 



Here it may not be improper to mention again 

 that most foolish and dangerous custom of feeding 

 horses in the same proportion, whether they work 

 or not. From this error many disorders proceed; 

 for no horse which is not well and constantly exer- 

 cised, can continue long in healtli if full fed. 



