46 



FARMERS' REGISTER— WINTER FOOD. 



found most advantageous to wet the barley, and 

 allow it two or three days to sprout. The chaff 

 is cut by a horse-mill, which a.t the same time 

 bruises the beans by a small addition of machine- 

 ry, and one horse with a couple of lads, one to un- 

 bind and deliver the hay, and the other to fill the 

 trough, will cut a load of hay in three hours. The 

 macliinery, which consists of nothing more than 

 a common chaff-cutter, of somewhat larger size 

 than those used by hand, and a bruising apparatus 

 of very easy construction — both ol' which may be 

 readily added to a thrashing-mill — works in a loft 

 above the horse-course, on the floor of which the 

 whole provender is afterwards mixed: the chaff 

 being spread first, next the bruised corn, and lasdy 

 the bran, the whole is united in one mass; and 

 having been separately weighed, is then measured 

 off in distinct portions. 



The horses, thus il^d, are however, of the largest 

 size, and being used for drawing very heavy 

 weights, consequently require more sustenance 

 than the common run of farm cattle, for which 

 the amount of dry food already stated — 28 lbs. to 

 30 lbs. will generally be found sufficient. Taking 

 the latter quantity, a suggestion published in the 

 'Sporting Magazine,' and recommended to the 

 attention oJ" farmers, is deserving of notice, as 

 furnishing some useful hints, founded upon long 

 experience of an eminent medical gentleman, in 

 feeding light draught horses, which undergo very 

 considerable fatigue in constant journies, at a rapid 

 pace, and yet, on that allowance, are kept in per- 

 fect working order. The ingredients of the food 

 are divided into four classes, containing different 

 quantities of each, to be used as discretion or con- 

 venience may dictate, in the following proportions: 

 Isf. 2d. 3d. 4ih. 



JBruised, or ground beans, 



peas, or white corn 5 



Hay cut into chaff 7 



Straw, do. - - 7 



Steamed potatoes - 5 

 Malt-dust,or ground oil-cake — 



Brewers' grains - 6 



Bran _ . - — 



lbs. lbs. lbs. lbs. 



5 10 5 

 8 10 8 

 10 10 8 

 5 — — 

 2—2 



And 2 ozs. of salt to each* 30 30 30 30 



The weight of each class is 30 lbs., and the quan- 

 tity of nutritive matter contained in their ingre- 

 dients is supposed to be equal. The first and second 

 classes, of which potatoes form apart, are however 

 preferred by Dr. Sully, though the grains had the 

 oil-cake with which they are combined do not ap- 

 pear to form an adequate substitute for the differ- 

 ence made in the allowance of corn. Of grains, 

 it may also be observed, that their too frequent or 

 copious use has been found so injurious to horses, 

 that those of brewers, when so fed, are said to be- 

 come rotten and die in a few years; and on dissec- 

 tion are found to have large stony concretions in 

 their bladders.! 



As to the salt, the propriety of its daily use is 

 ofyen to .question. That it contributes to the 

 health of animals, is a fact too well established to 

 admit of doubt; but the manner in which it acts 



* Letter from Dr. Sully, of Wiveliseombe. — Spoii. 

 Mag., vol. xix. p. 15. 



t Middlesex Report, 2d Ed. p. 469. 



upon their constitution — whether by merely aiding 

 dio-estion, or by cooling and correcting the impu- 

 rities of the blood — lias not been sufficiently as- 

 certained to fix with certainty cither the mode, or 

 the amount of its application. Numberless experi- 

 ments on this subject have, indeed, been recorded, 

 all tending to prove that it is relished by cattle, 

 and improves their condition; yet, still the quantity 

 to be administered to each, the time when it 

 should be given, and its precise efi'ects, remain to 

 be determined, and can only be defined by more 

 accurate trials than have been yet made. In this, 

 however, as in all matter regarding the treatment 

 of animals, nature, when she can be consulted, 

 is ever the surest guide. The tastes with which 

 she furnishes her creatures, instinctively direct 

 them to those kinds of food which are the most 

 nutritive and the most healthful; but, although 

 most animals in a wild state evince a taste for salt, 

 it yet is only occasionally, and not regularly, in- 

 dulged. The 'salt licks' of America, which are 

 masses of mineral salt, so named because they 

 are licked by the beasts of the forest, afford abun- 

 dant evidence in the excavations which have been 

 thus made, that salt is essential to animal health: 

 the elk, the deer, and the buffalo, traverse im- 

 measurable wilds in search of them, and tracks 

 are found leading directly to them from the re- 

 motest pastures. But the instinct which leada 

 those animals to seek the 'licks' and 'salt springs,' 

 in which they are even said to bathe, is only pe- 

 riodical; the impulse once obeyed, they retire to 

 their usual haunts, nor return until the recurrence 

 of the same season. This, singly, would go far 

 to show that salt is only useful as a preventive of 

 disease, and should be only occasionally adminis- 

 tered in large doses; but there are so many other 

 well-attested instances of animals which thrive 

 upon the constant use of saline plants, and of wa- 

 ter impregnated with salt, that it cannot be con- 

 sidered as amounting to proof Thatit is not hurt- 

 tul when given moderately, in any way, is certain: 

 but whether it should be employed in small quan- 

 tities daily, or to the extent of half a pound at a 

 time, for horses, and only once a week, or whether 

 the practice should be confined to summer, is not 

 so clear: perhaps a better mode than either would 

 be to place a lump of rock-salt in a corner of the 

 manger, and allow the horse, after having made 

 him acquainted with its taste, to use it at his plea^ 

 sure. 



The points most worthy of imitafion in this gen- 

 tleman's management are the order and economy 

 of his stable. He justly observes, that grooms 

 are wasteful of hay, aiid by allowing the horses 

 an unlimited use of it, tempt them to eat too much: 

 his stables, therefore, are without racks: the loft 

 above contains the machinery for cutting and 

 grinding the chaff and corn, and when prepared, 

 each horse's provender is put into a tub, from 

 which a tunnel leads to the manger vmderneath, 

 by means of which it is conveyed to him without 

 further trouble. It is given in small quantities at 

 several times during the day, and at night enough 

 is thrown into the tub to last until the morning. 

 This is a most excellent plan, and might be still 

 further improved by a contrivance m the tunnel to 

 prevent more from descending than the horse will 

 eat at one time. 



The method of converting the entire provender 

 into manger-meat has been borrowed trom Flan^ 



