THE HORSE HYGIENE AND SANITARY CONDITIONS. 663 



It is true that the horse and the pig can not do as well on 

 fodder and hay as the ox, because their stomachs are smaller, 

 and their teeth are made for better grinding grain than are 

 those of the ox. Nevertheless it is true that either the pig or 

 the horse, fed on grain alone, soon shows derangement of di- 

 gestion, which has been corrected by simply mixing with the 

 concentrated food a distender, like hay, clover, or straw. Bean 

 meal is a favorite feed for horses among English horsemen, 

 but it needs the husk of the oat, or the fiber of hay or straw 

 mingled with it, to facilitate the ready action of the gastric 

 juices on the mass in the stomach. For the same reason corn-meal 

 alone is not a safe or economical feed for horses, pigs, or cattle. 



Nor is it enough that, after a feed of meal, long hay or fod- 

 der be given. The meal has been moistened and packed in the 

 stomach, and has not been masticated and mixed with saliva, as 

 when mixed with rough feed ; it has to be more throughly mas- 

 ticated, which incorporates saliva and combines the fibrous and 

 concentrated feed so there is prompt and ready action of the 

 gastric juices on the entire mass in the stomach, and not merely 

 on the outside, as when the meal is in a doughy mass. 



The principle of this incorporation of bulky with concen- 

 trated feed is well illustrated by an experiment made by Stew- 

 art, in feeding pea-meal to horses at heavy work. He fed 

 "sixteen pounds of pea-meal mixed with one bushel of cut hay, 

 the hay being moistened so that the pea-meal would adhere to 

 the hay, and all be eaten together. Long hay was given in ad- 

 dition, making about twelve pounds of hay. Four horses were 

 thus fed for four months, performing full daily labor. The 

 average weight of the horses at the beginning of the experi- 

 ment was 1,050 pounds, and at the end 1,065 pounds." The 

 condition and health of the horses were carefully watched, and 

 found satisfactory. There was no feverish condition or indica- 

 tion of any disturbance of the digestive functions. The appe- 

 tite remained very uniform, and there was every appearance of 

 contentment. 



This experiment showed that the feed was well applied for 

 forming muscle. It also showed the valuable effect of mixing 



