HARD MEAT VERSUS GRASS 109 



one of an hundred. The grass was roasted till it 

 resembled hay, but now your horses are starved." 

 — " How can that be," replied my friend, " when 

 there is so much grass ? " — " That there is grass," 

 replied I, " I admit ; that is to say, in places under 

 the shade of trees and in wet spots, which they will 

 eat, as you or I would eat a dog or a cat when starving : 

 but they would as soon eat the fungus that grows 

 amongst it as touch it now ; and where the feed is 

 sweet, you perceive they have gnawed it until there 

 is no bite left to support so large an animal as a horse, 

 and particularly one whose appetite was a short time 

 since satiated with high keep." I now remarked 

 to him the difference between my horse and any one 

 of his seven. The coat of my horse was of its original 

 colour, and lay close to his back : he was fuU of vigour 

 and strength, rather fatter than I wished to see him ; 

 but dirty as he was — having been only taken up the 

 day before (the loth of July) — we could see a gloss 

 down his quarters and shoulders, and his flesh was as 

 firm as if he had been in work. He had no cough, 

 but appeared in perfect health ; and, by way of ex- 

 periment, I rode him rather fast for about a mile and 

 a half on my own road home, to see whether he would 

 perspire quickly, which he did not, though full of glee, 

 and eager to get home, and, as it happened on that 

 day, under a hot mid-day sun. 



Now let us contrast, if they can be contrasted, the 

 advantages and disadvantages of these two plans, 

 and balance the account between them. It is true 

 that my neighbour's horses will have cost nothing but 



