FOOD 505 



cwt. is too expensive for ordinary feeding. Under pressure 

 of work, a J bushel of beans may be added to the mixture. 

 Two oz. of raw linseed oil encourages a horse, if trained to it, 

 to eat his food after a hard day's work. When on light work, 

 a stone of oats and a stone of hay per day is a very common 

 and simple ration for a farm horse. A quart of beer is a good 

 pick-me-up for an exhausted horse, and Major Humfreys has 

 recommended a gallon of warm tea, not strong, but with plenty 

 of milk and sugar, as a good restorative for a tired horse. 



A large dose of 2 oz. of carbonate of ammonia, in the 

 form of a ball, for a horse with a stoppage in the bowels, is 

 often a useful stimulant, giving relief by moving the bowels. 



The relatively low prices of wheat towards the end of the 

 nineteenth century led to its use among farm animals, and it 

 was fully demonstrated that wheat about 26s. per quarter is an 

 excellent food for work horses if the following limitations be 

 observed : ist, that it is given bruised, and not either whole 

 or baked into bread ; 2nd, that it is mixed with bran or chopped 

 fodder ; ^rd> that the wheat mixture is not the only food given 

 in the day ; and 4^, that the other food be not short and dry, 

 like oats, beans, and barley, but grass or silage ; or in the 

 absence of green food, 2 to 3 Ibs. of linseed cake or molascuit. 

 Linseed cake or treacle in moderate quantities acts most 

 beneficially as a food regulator for all classes of animals on 

 the farm, with the possible exception of horses doing fast 

 work : if given at all, the amount should then be little. 



It is good practice for the attendant to give, before leaving 

 the stable for the night, a few raw swedes, carrots, or mangels 

 as the last food supplied. Potatoes are liable to produce 

 colic, and should never be given raw to horses. Old, sprouted 

 potatoes, even after boiling, have been demonstrated by 

 Principal Sir John Macfadzean, Royal Veterinary College, 

 London, to be deadly poison to horses. 1 Furze or whin is 

 sometimes grown as a forage crop to provide green winter 

 food for horses, 30 Ibs. being sufficient for each animal per 



1 The case occurred September 1896, when Alfred D. Wells, of 

 Linodun, Willingford, lost eleven horses from eating in most instances 

 small quantities of sprouted " chat " potatoes kept over from 1895, after 

 being three months in bags in a shed, and having there developed a few 

 small new potatoes. Two test horses fed on the potatoes died. An 

 affected animal seems dull, and dies within twelve hours after being first 

 observed, without evincing any sign of pain. 



