FARMERS' REGISTER— WINTER FOOD. 



45 



from them: it is therefore unnecessary to reler to 

 them; nor is the cause which they are meant to 

 promote assisted by being advocated upon any 

 other than its real merits. A medium-sized tarm- 

 horse, at customary laT)or, consumes from 84 lbs. 

 to one cwt. of green food daily, with an occasion- 

 al allowance oi" corn. Now a good acre ol" tares, 

 or of broad clover, will weigh twelve tons, (that 

 is, presuming the tares to be cut only once, and 

 the clover twice*; for although winter tares may 

 be cut again, it is more usual to get them oil' the 

 land as soon as po.ssible, either in order to sow tur- 

 nips, or to form a bastard fallow;) and, taking that 

 Aveight as the average of both, and the consump- 

 tion at the highest rate, half an acre of either 

 would support a horse during four months. This 

 nearly accords with some instances in the county 

 surveys; in others, more have been consumed, and 

 for the reasons already stated, it is next to impossi- 

 ble that any two accounts should agree; but, upon 

 a rovigh estimate, it may be affirmed, that about a 

 perch per day Avill be required for each horse in 

 most seasons, and on most kinds of lands, if soiled, 

 and that double that quantity will be necessary if 

 pastured.! 



It must, however, be borne iri mind that the 

 difference in the degree of succulence contained in 

 various grasses must necessarily have a material 

 influence on the state of the cattle by which they 

 are consumed. Of this farmers are generally 

 prettj' well informed, either through their own ob- 

 servation, or by the experience of others; but an 

 accurate acquaintance with the subject was not 

 attained until the experiments made at VVoburn, 

 ^y which Mr. Sinclair has been enabled to ascer- 

 tain the quantity ofsoluble nutritive matter afforded 

 by all those grasses which constitute the produce 

 of the richest ancient pastures, as well as those of 

 artificial growth, and which will be fully adverted 

 to in a future poi-tion of this work. 



The custom of giving corn along with green 

 meat is unprofitable; for the grain, thus mixed, 

 passes rapiclly off the stomach, and is never per- 

 fectly digested. When, however, increased exer- 

 tion demands an addition of more substantial food 

 and that corn is also allowed, it should be given 

 only in the morning and at night, accompanied 

 with a sufficient quantity of chaff to afford it con- 

 sistence, and gi'een meat should only be given at 

 mid-day. Farmers very generally omit that pre- 



* From an experiment made at Woburn, the green 

 weight of an acre of broad clover was found to be 

 49,005 lbs.:=21 tons. 17 cwt. 2 quars. 5 lbs.; but the 

 soil is described as a rich clayey loam, and the crop 

 cannot be assumed as an average. See Sinclair's Hor- 

 tus Gramineiis Wobvrnensis; and the Appendix to Sir 

 H. Davy's Elements of Agricultural Chemistry. 



fin one instance it is stated, that twenty horses 

 have been supported for three months on six acres of 

 tares (Rutlandshire Report, p 71;) and in another, 

 that fifty-one heads of cattle — cows, oxen, and horses 

 — \Yere kept, during that pei-iod, on 1-5 1-2 acres of 

 mixed herbage; or, in each, about half a perch per day. 

 (Comm. to the Board of Agriculture, vol. v'li. parti, 

 art. 1.^ A third mentions, that twelve horses and five 

 cows, which, togetlier may be considered equal to 

 eighteen horses, consumed, in the same time, eight 

 acres of tares, or 3 quarters and one-thirty-second part 

 of a perch each daily (Middlesex Report, p. 257; j and 

 a fourth states the allowance of pastured tares (for 

 twelve horses) to be an acre per week, or nearly two 

 perch each day. (Essex Report, vol. ii. p. 354. j 



caution, and it is a common custom among them 

 to allow half the usual quantity of corn, without 

 regard to the effect of the watery juices of grass 

 upon the digestion; but they may be assured that 

 a great portion of the nutriment contained in the 

 grain is thus wasted. 



JFinter Food. 



It cannot be doubted that working horses can be 

 supported during the autumn and winter, until the 

 growth of the young grasses, with only roofs and 

 hay, and plenty of hay and straw, without giving 

 them any corn. But, although they can be main- 

 tained in perfect health and apparent vigor, 3-et 

 they will be incapable of any strong or unusual 

 exertion. Perhaps the most wholesome root, and 

 that most relished by them, is raw carrots, with- 

 out the tops, and then coarsely Avashed and sliced. 

 Although, as we have already seen, potatoes 

 have been advantageously used, yet it must be 

 admitted that they are thought to occasion a cer- 

 tain want of spirit and flabbiness of flesh, which 

 probably arises from the use of boiled food. It is 

 also well known that, in many other cases, ani- 

 mals have refused even to taste them. Thia, 

 however, has probably arisen from some want of 

 care in the preparation — for, if boiled too sofl, or 

 in a mashed or wet state, they will not be eaten 

 by horses: they should therefore be always steam- 

 ed, and daily fresh dressed, nor should any other 

 than the floury sorts be chosen. There is also 

 some management requisite in getting horses to 

 change their taste for any kind of' food with which 

 they are unacquainted: thus, a new species of root 

 should be given in a small quantity by hand, when 

 there is nothing else to eat, and apparently to 

 coax them: when they relish that, a portion may 

 be mixed with their other food, and in that man- 

 ner they will be induced to overcome their dislike. 



The cavalry alloioance of hay and oats to horses 

 in barracks, is 12 lbs. of the former, and 10 lbs. of 

 the latter, on which they are kept in high condi- 

 tion; but it has been ascertained by experience, 

 that a common cart-horse cannot be supported in 

 good working order on less than 28 or 30 lbs. of 

 the same food, or more, if straw be substituted for 

 any portion of the hay, supposing him to be of a 

 medium size, and only employed on the customa- 

 ry farm labor; when greater exertion is required 

 even that is insufficient. In some of the brewers' 

 and coal-merchants' stables in the metropolis, the 

 common allowance amounts to 36 lbs. of dry food 

 daily; and in those of Messrs. Wiggins, the great 

 cart-horse contractors, it varies from 36 lbs. to 

 40 lbs., according to size and work, in the propor- 

 tion of 16 lbs. of clover or sainfoin hay, and 4 lbs. 

 of straw to 18 lbs. of grain, consisting of oats or 

 barley, beans or peas, and 2 lbs. of bran. The 

 corn being given by weight, no difference is made 

 in the amount of "the allowance whatever kind 

 may be used, and the choice depends more on 

 price than on any settled rule; except that oats are 

 preferred to beans in suminer, and that rather 

 more bran is allowed with the latter. Salt is 

 not given regularly; but much benefit has been 

 derived from'^the occasional use of carrots and 

 Swedish turnips sliced along with the chaff. 



The Avhole of this food is given as manger-meat, 

 no part of it being put into the rack. The hay 

 and straw are cut ver}' short; the beans "are bruised, 

 and the oats sometimes coarsely gi-ound; but it is 



