STUD BOOK. 109 



quently, injurious, drugs. This practice is often carried to 

 an extent that is scarcely credible. The person who prac- 

 tices this imposition, whatever be his motives often con- 

 nected with the wished-for good appearance of his team 

 should be immediately dismissed; and it should be a golden 

 rule that no drug should be kept or used in a stable without 

 the master's knowledge and permission. 



A simple but invaluable appendage to the cart-stable is 

 the nose-bag. In order that the lungs of the horse may have 

 their full play, and especially that the speed of the horse may 

 not be impeded, an exceedingly small stomach was given to 

 him. It is, consequently, soon emptied of food, and hunger, 

 and languor, and indisposition, and inability to work, speedily 

 succeed. At length food is set before him; he falls raven- 

 ously upon it; he swallows it faster than his contracted 

 stomach can digest it; the stomach becomes overloaded; he 

 cannot, from the peculiar construction of that organ, get rid 

 of the load by vomiting, and the stomach, or some of the 

 vessels of the brain become ruptured, and the animal dies, 

 The farmer attributes this to an unknown or accidental cause, 

 and dreams not that it is, in the great majority of cases, to be 

 traced to voracious feeding after hard work and long fasting. 

 The nose-bag is a simple but a kind contrivance, and an 

 effectual preventive. No cart-horse on a journey of more 

 than four or five hours should be suffered to leave the far- 

 mer's yard without it 



A very slight inspection of the animal will always enable 

 the owner to determine whether he is too well fed or not suf- 

 ficiently fed. The size of the horse, and the nature of the 

 work, and the season of the year, will make considerable 

 difference in the quantity and the quality of the food. The 

 grand principles of feeding, with reference to agricultural 

 horses, are to keep the animal rather above his work, to give 

 him good and wholesome food, and by the use of the nose- 

 bag or other means, never to let him work longer than the 

 time already mentioned without being baited. 



The horse of quick work should be allowed as much as 

 he will eat, care being taken that more is put into the 

 manger-than he will readily dispose of; and that the corn be 

 consumed before the hay is given; if the former be not 

 eaten up with an appetite, it must be removed before the 

 stable is shut up. The quantity actually eaten will depend 

 on the degree of work and the natural appetite of the horse; 

 but it may be averaged at about sixty-six pounds of chaff, 

 seventeen pounds and a half of beans, and seventy-seven 

 pounds of oats per week. 



