478 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



ityof ilie rest. Tliti ravages oftlie insect, are 

 plain enough. The bean is excaviieii, ii^ht, brit- 

 tle, and hitler tasted. A lew in lliisslae may do 

 no harm ; but wiien the heans are t:jenerally in- 

 fecied, it is not likely thai they are eaten with im- 

 |)unity, and very oCien the horse rel'uses fheni al- 

 toirether. Damp, iiuisiy, ill-kept heans, thouijh 

 old, are as flatulent as those which are new. All 

 kinds are consiipalinir. 



Tlioui/h in very freneral use for horses, beans 

 are not so extensively eiti ployed as oats. Accord- 

 ing to the chemists, they contain much lesf^ nutri- 

 ment ; but in practice it is universally allowed that 

 beans are much the stronuer ol' the two. The 

 comparison however, is almost always made in 

 relerence to a measured quantity. A bushel of 

 beans is, beyond all doubt, more nutritious than 

 a bushel of oats, but it is questionable whether 

 a pound of beans is stronger than a pound of 

 oats. Beans weigh about sixty-three pounds 

 per bushel, and if aiven in an oat measure the 

 horse may be getting nearly double allowance. 

 This, I am persuaded, o'ien happens, and hence 

 arise those complaints about the healing, inflam- 

 matory nature of beans. The horse becomes ple- 

 thoric ; the groom says the lumiors are flyinu about 

 him. It is very likely that he would be in the very 

 same state if he were getting an equal weight of 

 oats. 



Ifihe beans do not afibrd more nutriment, weight 

 for weight ol"oats, they at least produce more lasting 

 vigor. To use a common expression, they keep the 

 stomach longer. The horse can travel further ; he 

 is not so soon exhausted. "I remember," says 

 Nimrod, "hearing Mr. Hoare exclaim, as his 

 hounds were seiiling to their fox, 'Now we shall 

 see what horses eat old oais, and what eat new.' 

 I am inclined to think that this distinction may be 

 applied to horses that eat beans, and those that 

 eat none, for they help to bring him home at the 

 end of a long day, and support his strength in the j 

 run." I believe Nimrod is quite right. In the 1 

 coaching-stables beans are almost indispensab'e to j 

 horses that have to run long stages. They aflord j 

 a stronger and more permanent stimulus than oats 

 alone, however good. Washy horses, those of 

 slender carcass, cannot perform severe work with- 

 out a liberal allowance of beans, and old horses 

 need them more than the young. Tlie quantity 

 varies from three to six pounds per day, but in 

 some of the coaching-stables the horses get more, 

 a pound of oats being deducted for every pound ol 

 beans. Cart horses are often led on beans, to the 

 exclusion of all other corn, but they are always 

 given with dry bran, which is necessary to keep 

 the bowels open, and to ensure mastication. Beans 

 are not in general use (or race-horses, but are 

 sometimes given to bad eaters. They are usually 

 split and hulled, which is a superfluous process. 

 For old horses they should be broken or bruised. 



Some horses will not eat beans. The Irish 

 horses, when first brought to this country, always 

 refuse them ; they invariably pick out the oats and 

 leave the beans. It does not appear that they dis- 

 like them, for after they begin, they leed as well 

 as other horses. Ultimately, they seem to dis- 

 cover that beans are for eating, although it is oi'ten 

 a long lime ere they make the discovery. 



The horse however, may soon be taught. Let 

 him fiist lor an hour beyond the feeding-iime, and 

 then give him half a ration of beans without oats. 



If he still reject them, offer them split or broken, 

 or moisten them, and R|)rinkle a litile oatmeal over 

 them, suilicieni to make the beans while. If he 

 still demur, put anoiher horse, a hungry one, be- 

 side him, and he will soon teach his ignorant 

 neiirhbor. 



Jjcaii-meal, or flour, is sometimes added to the 

 boiletl /bod ; but it is oftener given in the water to 

 cure the staling-evil. 



Peas are seldom used without beans, with 

 which they are mixed in large or small quantities. 

 They may be given wiihout either beans or other 

 corn, but much care is necessary to inure the horse 

 to them. Peas seem to be very indigestible, more 

 so than beans, and perhaps as much so as wheat ; 

 but when given very sfiaringly at first, they may 

 be used wiih perfect safety. It is often said that 

 peas swell so much in the stomach as to burst it. 

 This is an error. Peas do absorb much water, 

 and swell more perhaps than beans, but they 

 never swell so much as to burst the stomach, for 

 the horse cannot or will not eat such a large quan- 

 tity. When the stomach is burst it is Irom fer- 

 mentation, not from swelling of the peas. All 

 kinds of food will produce the same result when 

 the horse is permitted to gorge himself", or when 

 he is led in lull measure upon food that he has 

 not been accustomed to ; l>ut peas seem to he ra- 

 ther more apt to ferment than some other corns. 



Peas should be sound, and a year old. They 

 weigh, on an average, sixty-lour pounds per bushel. 

 Pea-meal is sometimes given in the same way, 

 and for the same purposes as that of the bean. 

 Some prefer it for diabetes, and in a lew places it 

 is given in the water lor baiting on the road. 



Vetch seed has been employed for feeding hoises, 

 but I have learned nolhinii of the result. 



Bread. — In former times it was cuslomary to 

 feed horses with bread, and the statute-book is 

 said to contain several acts of parliament, relating 

 to the manner of making it. Gervase Markham, 

 a very old author, says, ''Horse bread vvliich is 

 made of clean beans, clean peas, or clean fitches, 

 leedelh exceedingly." It is not many years since 

 a bread, composed of wheat, oats, barley, and 

 beans, ground and mixed in varying proportions, 

 was used in the racing-stables. The bread was 

 well baked, and iiiven when sufficiently old to 

 crumble down and mingle with the corn. Eggs 

 and some spices were sometimes inlroduced in 

 making it. Nothing of the kind, so liir as I know, 

 is now used in this country. 



In different parts of Europe bread forms the 

 customary corn of the horses. A French periodi- 

 cal of 1S28 mentions an agriculturist " who led his 

 horses with a bread composed of thirty bushels 

 of oatmeal, and an etpial number of rye-flour, to 

 which he added a portion of yeast, and nine 

 bushels of potatoes reduced to a pulp. With this 

 bread he kept seven horses, each having twelve 

 pounds per day in three feeds. It was broken into 

 small pieces, and mixed with a little moistened 

 chaff." He had fieed his horses in (his way for 

 'bur years. Previously, he had used oats, hay, 

 and straw chafl'. The translator says he saved 

 forty-nine bushels of oats in twenty-four days. 

 But this is nonsense, lor he had only seven horses. 

 I lake the quotation from " The Farrier and Na- 

 turalist," a dead journal. 



The Magazine of Domestic Economy is not 

 mucii better. The February number for 183T 



