FOOD 347 



Where mixed food is used it is found to be a good plan to subdivide 

 each feed into two portions. 



Two-thirds of the feed should be given as the first portion, and after 

 that has been entirely consumed, and a short interval has elapsed, tlie 

 remaining portion should be given. By following this procedure it will 

 be found that even greedy feeders proceed more leisurely with the second 

 portion, and in doing so lessen the liability to gastric engorgement and 

 secure more thorough digestion. 



Total Amount of Food. — Heavy dray-horses require from 28 lbs. 

 mixed food to 33 lbs. or 34 lbs., according to their size and the severity 

 of their work, and whenever more is required it is the result of some 

 attendant waste. About 27 lbs. or 28 lbs. of mixed food of equal parts 

 of grain and hay will usually supply the requirements of farm horses. 

 Tram and omnibus horses are usually allowed from 26 lbs. to 30 lbs. 

 Other horses will require food in a corresponding ratio, according to their 

 size and work. Horses at rest will do with a third less food than when 

 doing severe work. 



Oats. — Oats are generally looked ujDon as the best horse-corn, and 

 in the light of long practical experience there is, on the whole, just 

 grounds for that belief No other kind of grain alone is found so well 

 adapted for horse food under all circumstances. AVhether the horse is 

 young, or growing, or fully matured, whether he is a cart-horse or a 

 race-horse, at work or at rest, oats can be relied upon to provide a suit- 

 able food. An explanation of this well-established fact is furnished by 

 the chemical analysis of oats, which shows they contain the food con- 

 stituents in better-balanced proportions for the horse's requirements than 

 any other grain used for feeding purposes. 



But although oats are superior to any individual grain in this respect, 

 they are not superior to many grain mixtures, several of which may 

 be made having the requisite feeding - colistituents in better proportions 

 than oats, and possessing the additional advantage of being cheaper. 

 That oats form a perfect food, or for that matter any other single grain, 

 no one will contend; even their most powerful advocates recognize that 

 as a food for hunters and otlier horses during severe weather they are 

 improved by the addition of beans. The oats on the market comprise 

 an immense variety, of which our home supply constitutes a small pro- 

 portion, the major portion being imported. 



Owing to the bright appearance of many samples of damaged oats, 

 which have been more or less successfully treated for the purpose of 

 giving them the semblance of good ones, and to the difficulty in accurately 

 assessing the proportion of husk to kernel in many samples, and for 



