M DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 



A simple but invaluable appendage to the cart-stable is the nose-hag. 

 In order that the lungs of the horse may have their full play, and espe- 

 cially that the speed of the horse may not be impeded, an exceedingly 

 small stomach was given to him. It is, consequently, soon emptied of 

 food, and hunger, and languor, and indisposition, and inability to work, 

 speedily succeed. At length food is set before him ; he falls ravenously 

 upon it ; he swallows it faster than his contracted stomach can digest 

 it; the stomach becomes overloaded; he cannot, from the peculiar 

 construction of that organ, get rid of the load by vomiting, and the 

 stomach, or some of the vessels of the brain, becomes ruptured, and the 

 animal dies. The farmer attributes this to an unknown or accidental 

 cause, and dreams not that it is, in the great majority of cases, to be 

 traced to voracious feeding after hard work and long fasting. The 

 nose-bag is a simple but a kind contrivance, and an effectual preventive. 

 No cart-horse on a journey of more than four or five hours, should be 

 suftcred to leave the farmer's yard Avithout it. 



A very slight inspection of the animal will always enable the owner 

 to determine whether he is too well fed or not sufficiently fed. The 

 size of the horse, and the nature of the work, and the season of the 

 year, will make considerable diff*erence in the quantity and the quality 

 of the food. The following accounts will sufficiently elucidate the 

 general custom : — "Mr. Harper, of Bank Hall, Lancashire, plows seven 

 acres per week, the year through, on strong land, with a team of three 

 horses, and allows to each weekly two bushels of oats, with hay, during 

 the winter six months, and, during the remainder of the year, one 

 bushel of oats per week. Mr. EUraan, of Glynde, in Sussex, allows two 

 bushels of oats, with pcase-haulm or straw, with but very little hay, 

 during the winter months. He gives one bushel of oats with green 

 food during the summer." There is very little difference in the man- 

 agement of these two gentlemen, and that probably arising from cir- 

 cumstances peculiar to their respective farms. The grand principles of 

 feeding, with reference to 'agricultural horses, are, to keep the animal 

 rather above his work, to give him good and wholesome food, and, by 

 the use of the nose-bag or other means, never to let him work longer 

 than the time already mentioned without being baited. 



The horse of quick work should be allowed as much as he will eat, 

 care being taken that no more is put into the manger than he will 

 readily dispose of; and that the grain be consumed before the hay is 

 given ; if the former be not eaten up with an appetite, it must be re- 

 moved before the stable is shut up. The quantity actually eaten will 

 depend on the degree of work and the natural appetite of the horse; 

 but it may be averaged at about sixty-six pounds of chaff, seventeen 

 pounds and a half of beans, and seventy-seven pounds of oats per Aveek. 



The 2^'a(;(?/v'«7 of the horseis a very important but disregarded portion 

 of his general management. The kind of water has not been sufficiently 

 considered. The difference between what is termed hard and soft 

 water is a circumstance of general observation. The former contains 

 certain saline principles which decompose some bodies, as appears in 

 the curdling of soap, and prevent the decomposition of others, as in the 

 making of tea, the boiling of vegetables, and the process of brewing. It 



