TllK IIOKSE. 39 



course be boarded np, with tlic exception of the part from wliich the 

 horse eats. The advantage of this arrangement would be, that all the 

 hay would be eaten, and not pulled down, as is generally the case, and 

 trodden underfoot amongst the litter. Much hay will be saved by the 

 use of a deep manger as a substitute for a rack ; and an equal saving 

 would take place in grain if the manger were made to slope slightly in- 

 ward instead of outward, as is usually the case. It would exceedingly 

 puzzle a wasteful or mischievous horse to throw his corn out of such a 

 mauger if deep enough ; but for this the manger as usually constructed 

 affords him every facility. 



Dung never ought to be allowed to be swept up in a corner, as is fre- 

 quently the case, and all wet htter should be removed. In short, the 

 more pains that are taken relative to a horse's comfort in a stable, the 

 more will he repay those pains; and the farmer especially can have no 

 better assurance that the more the horses thrive, the more will he him- 

 self thrive. The very fact of his attention to his horses independently 

 of the more effective work arisino^ therefrom, will becret a similar habit 

 of attention to every thino; else. 



THE HORSE'S FOOD.— This should be oats and hay of the best quality; 

 beans for hard-working horses occasionally varied with carrots or 

 Swedes, bran mashes, and under some circumstances linseed gruel. 

 Many persons are not aware that the price of musty grain and bad hay 

 is vastly dearer than that of the same commodities of good quality, and 

 that the worse the quality the higher the cost. It is so nevertheless, 

 for whether the purchaser of inferior articles bargain for it or not, he 

 always purchases with them indigestion, foulness of blood, looseness of 

 the bowels, general debility, and glanders, all of these being too costly 

 to be purchased into any stable. We once knew a farmer whose prac- 

 tice it was to sell all his best articles and keep the refuse of the farm for 

 his own horses; the consequence was, that he never was without glan- 

 ders or some other disease in his stable ; and there was not a carter in 

 the parish who did not give his team a wide berth w^ierever he met it 

 with his own horses. It was the man's system, nevertheless, and he 

 either could not see its banefulness or he would not alter it ; so he died 

 at last from it, having caught a glanderous infection from his own 

 stable. Mr. Spooner, in speaking of this subject, thus testifies his own 

 experience : "I have known a serious loss sustained by a proprietor of 

 post and coach horses, from keeping a considerable stock of oats and 

 neglecting to turn them ; many horses became glandered and farcied, 

 apparently in consequence of this circumstance." 



Wllolt5 or Bruised Grain. — iMnch has been said of late respecting the 

 advantage of bruising oats, aud various machines are much in vogue for 

 the purpose. Mr. Spooner says of them, "they are apt to produce 

 diarrhoea, especially if the animal is worked hard." It is further alleged 

 that many horses will not eat them with an appetite, and the opponents 

 to the system go further, urging that unbruised oats excite a flow of 

 saliva necessary to perfect digestion, which is not the case with those 

 which are bruised. The explanation to the first of these questions sup- 

 plies a very strong recommendation. The stomach having derived a 

 sufficient quantity of nourishment from a moderate portion does not re- 



