664 THE PEOPLE'S FARM AND STOCK CYCLOPEDIA. 



concentrated feed with hay to give porosity to the bulk in the 

 stomach. The value of this point is made more forcible by 

 the fact that a neighbor did not think it made any difference 

 whether the pea-meal was mixed with cut hay, or fed sepa- 

 rately, and the hay given to his horses uncut. He fed four 

 horses sixteen pounds of pea-meal to each horse in three feeds, 

 with long hay, unmixed. " Within six weeks two of his horses 

 had severe attacks of colic, and both of the others had to be 

 treated for constipation." He was prevailed upon by Mr. 

 Stewart "to feed the pea-meal mixed with one bushel of cut 

 hay, and in a few weeks his horses were in apparent health, 

 and able to do efficient work." The effect was so favorable that 

 he continued to feed meal whether of peas, corn, or other 

 grain mixed with cut hay, and said he never had a case of 

 colic afterwards. 



Feeding Corn-meal. Now, as digestion and assimilation 

 of the largest per cent of food eaten is the point to be gained 

 in the most economical use of feed, and as the animal that 

 grinds and masticates the grain most thoroughly thrives best, 

 farmers have been led to feed ground grain more than formerly. 

 But the verdict of the majority of farmers is, " It do n't pay to 

 grind feed." They affirm that the animals are liable to dullness 

 and colic when fed a full feed of meal. 



On this subject Mr. Stewart records his experience of thirty 

 years in feeding work-horses corn-meal. He has it ground as fine 

 as burr-stones will make it. He always mixes it with cut hay or 

 straw before feeding it, and when so mixed has never had colic 

 among his horses. He gives the following dearly bought expe- 

 rience. An acquaintance called on his return from a pleasant 

 drive of a hundred miles west, in June. Putting his fine horse 

 into the stable, he was proceeding to give his horse a good, 

 round measure of fine corn-meal, when a little seven-year-old 

 son of Mr. S. warned him that it would make his horse sick if 

 he did not mix it with cut hay. He replied, " I will risk it." 

 An hour later he started to drive eight miles, and was scarcely 

 able to get his horse that distance. The horse died before morn- 

 ing. The owner, speaking of it afterwards, said, " The boy 



