STUD BOOK. 103 



ing them food which is adapted to the purpose, to bring 

 them to maturity as early as possible; by these means the 

 texture and development of the bones, the sinews, and the 

 muscles is greatly accelerated The constitution of each an- 

 imal must be consulted, and it is highly important, if the 

 acme of condition is to be attained by animals when they ar- 

 rive at an age of maturity, that the growth and gradual de- 

 velopment of their frames should be composed of those 

 healthy and invigorating materials, upon which the structure 

 of condition can be raised. To accomplish this, hay, oats, 

 and occasionally beans, must form the principal items of 

 equine dietary, and grass should be provided only in limited 

 supplies during the summer months. It is to giving growing 

 stock unrestricted quantities of green food that breeders 

 must ascribe a general cause for their disappointment, and it 

 is by that practice that the kingdom is supplied with such 

 vast numbers of worthless animals. Grass, it may be ob- 

 served, loses two-thirds of its weight, and a greater propor- 

 tion of bulk, when converted into hay; but that extraneous 

 matter consists of moisture, possessing no portion of fibrine, 

 consequently it contains none of those elements which in- 

 crease muscular development. If a horse be supported upon 

 grass alone, he must eat a vast quantity equal to more than 

 three times the proportion of hay to derive an equivalent 

 amount of nourishment; being very full of sap and moisture, 

 it is quickly digested; consequently, the animal must be con- 

 tinually devouring it. This distends the stomach and bow- 

 els, and impairs the faculty of digestion; for the digestive 

 powers require rest as well as the other organs of the body, 

 if they are to be preserved in a healthy state. The muscular 

 system is debilitated, and fat accumulates; flatulent cholic or 

 gripes is produced, which not unfrequentiy becomes consti- 

 tutional. Nothing can be more erroneous than the antiquated 

 impression, that the purgative properties of young grass in 

 the spring are conducive to the healthy state of the equine 

 family. When the modus opet^andi of that description of food 

 is explained, the supposition of its being calculated to pro- 

 duce beneficial effects must vanish. The young green herb- 

 age is extensively overcharged with sap and moisture, of a 

 crude and acrimonious nature, and it exists so abundantly 

 that a considerable portion of it cannot be taken up by the 

 organs destined for th secretion of urine, or by the absorb- 

 ent vessels of the body; a great quantity of this superfluous 

 fluid, therefore, passes into the intestines, and is thus dis- 

 charged in a watery state. But the mischief does not termi- 



