474 



FARMERS^ REGISTER 



gestion very readily, and are not much liked. Few i 

 horses get them oftener than once a day. They ! 

 may be given oftener, but the horse soon begins lo 

 refuse them. If they are to be used lor several 

 successive vveel<s, they should not be given ofiener 

 than once in tvventy-lbur hours, or at nnst twice, 

 and then not in very large quantities. When the 

 quantity of food is .'imited, the horse will he glad 

 to get ihem at all limes, but in that case he must 

 have little woik. Straw, or liay, and turnips will 

 make an idle horse fat ; they will enable him to do 

 some slow work, but to perform full work the horse 

 will not or cannot eat enouijh to keep him in con- 

 dition ; and for last work he vvould eat mote than 

 he could well carry. Most usually they are given 

 only once a day, and at night after work is over; 

 chaff or hay seed, and some corn, generally beans, 

 are boiled along with ihem. They should always 

 be washed. They require much boiling, and when 

 large they may be cut. 



Carrots. — This root is held in much esteem. 

 There is none better, nor perhaps so good. When 

 first given it is slightly diuretic and laxative. But 

 as the horse becomes accustomed to it, liiese el- 

 I'ects are not produced. Carrots also improve the 

 slate of the skin. They form a good substitute 

 lor grass, and an excellent alterative lor horses 

 out of condition. To sick and idle Iiorsrs they 

 render corn unnecessary. They are beneficial in 

 all chronic diseases of the organs connected with 

 breathing, and have a niiuked influence upon 

 chronic cough and broken wind. They are ser- 

 viceable in diseases of the skin. In combination 

 with oats, they restore a worn-out horse much 

 sooner than oats alone. 



Carrots are usually given raw. Sometimes they 

 are boiled or steamed, but liorses seem to like 

 them better raw. They are washed and sliced. 

 They are often mingled with the corn, but I think 

 they ought to form a separate feed. They dimin- 

 ish the consumption of both hay and corn. 

 Some tell me that six, oihcis that eight pounds o( 

 carrots are equal to four pounds of oats. But the 

 calculation cannot be much depended upon, lortiie 

 horse may eat more or less hay without the dif- 

 ference being observed. According to Curwen, 

 a work-horse gettini/ from eight to twelve pounds 

 ol'corn, may have lour pounds deducted lor every 

 five he receives ofcarrots. For fitsl working horses 

 carrots never entirely supersede corn. JVlention is 

 made, indeed, of an Essex sportsman who gave 

 his hunters each a bushel of carrots daily with a 

 little hay, but no corn ; the horses are said to have 

 followed a pack of harriers twice a weeu, but the 

 possibility of doing this needs further proof. For 

 slow-working liorses, carrots may supply the place 

 of corn quite well, at least for those employed on 

 the liirm. Burrows, an English agriculturist, 

 gave his liirm-horses each seventy pounds of car- 

 rots per day, alonir with chati' and barn door re- 

 fuse, with which the carrots were sliced and mixed. 

 He gave a little rack-hay, but no corn. He liid his 

 horses in this way from the end of October to the 

 beginning of June, giving o little less than seventy 

 pounds in the very shortest days, and a little more 

 in spring. 



The tops of the carrots have been given to 

 horses, and it is said they were much liked, and 

 quite wholesome. 



Parsnips. — This root is used n good deal in 

 France ; in the neighborhood of Brest, parsnips 



and cabbages are boiled together and given to the 



horses warm, nlong with some buckwheat flour. 

 In the island of Jersey the root is much cultivated, 

 iind is extensively used lor laileniiiir stock, and lor 

 the table of all classes. It is said not to be gene- 

 rally given to hor^^es, for it is alleged that iheir 

 eyes sufler under its use. Arthur Youiis:, how- 

 ever, assures us that the horses about Morlaix are 

 ordinarily led upon parsnips, and that they are 

 considered " the best of all foods lor a horse, and 

 mucli exceeding oats." They are eaten both raw and 

 boiled. They are most usually washed, sliced and 

 mixed with bran or chaff'. T.he leaves, mown while 

 in good condition, are eaten as readily as clover. 



Mangel-wurtzel, yams, and the turnip cabbage, 

 have each been employed as Ibod lor horses, but 

 I have not been able lo learn with what effect. 



Corn. — In this country the corn consists chiefly 

 of oats, beans, and peas, but barley is now in very 

 common use, and wheat is occasionally given. 

 The two last articles, however, are rarely used io 

 the exclusion of oats, but are generally mixed with 

 them in certain proportions. Rye, buckwheat and 

 maize, are used as corn in vaiious parts of the 

 world, but very little, or not at all, in this. 



Oais. — There are several varieties wliich need 

 not he described. 



Good oais are about one year old, plump, short, 

 hard, rattlinir vvhen poured into the manger, sweet, 

 clean, free from chaff and dust, and weighing 

 about forty pounds per bushel. 



JVew oats are sliixhtly purgative, indigestible, 

 and unprofitable, 'i'hey seem to resist the action 

 of the stomach, and to retain their nutriment. 

 They make the liorse soft ; he swetits soon and 

 much at work. If they must be used when under 

 three or four months old, they may be improved 

 by kiln-drying. They are not yood, however, till 

 they are about a year old. They may he kept til! 

 too old, when they become musty and lull of in- 

 sects. The period at which oats begin to degene- 

 rate depends so much upon the manner in which 

 they are harvested and preserved, thai the age 

 alone affords no rule lor rejecting them. They can 

 be kept in cood condition lor several years. 



FvmigatRd oats are those which have been ex- 

 posed lo the vapor of ignited sulphur. They are 

 put lhrou<?h this process to improve their color. A 

 •rood deal of the sulphur adfieres to the husk of 

 I he oat, which is of a pretty color. A little sulphur 

 cannot do the horse any harm, but light small 

 oats absorb a considerable quantily. The sulphur 

 is easily detected by rubbinrj the oats between the 

 handsa little warmed. When the sulphur is in 

 large quantity, the liorses refuse 1 he oats, or they 

 do not leed heartily. I do not perceive that fumi- 

 trated oais are objeclionable in other respects. 



Kiln-dried nats are those which have been dried 

 by the application of fire. They are generally 

 blamed lor producing diabetes ; but though this 

 disease is common enough, it does not appear 

 wherever kiln-dried oats are used. In many parts 

 of Russia, oats and all other kinds of corn are kiln- 

 dried in the straw belbre ihey are stored. It is not 

 likely that this would be the case, if it were so 

 prejudicial to the oats as many people imagine. 

 JVIost of the kiln-dried oats which are given to 

 horses have been damaged before they were dried 

 and I suspect that the injury received in harvesting 

 or in storing has more lo do with diabetes than 

 kiln'dr}ing has. 



