IO2 FEEDING FARM ANIMALS 



It is equally important to work horses with regularity 

 where the circumstances are such as will admit of it. 

 Habit in work is much the same in horses as in men. Ask 

 a man to perform the work that he is accustomed to do 

 between the hours of seven and twelve in the morning 

 at any period of equal duration prior to that hour or sub- 

 sequently, and he will not perform it with the same ease, 

 though sufficiently supplied with nutriment that may be 

 exactly suitable. Habit has prepared the muscles for work- 

 ing under certain conditions, and at certain times, and any 

 disturbance in those conditions means lessened capacity 

 for work. This is seen no less in the domain of mind than 

 in that of matter. In one instance, a man does his best work 

 intellectually in the early morning hours. In. another in- 

 stance, another will do his best work in the late evening, 

 and this may sometimes happen with members of the same 

 family. Ask either to do the same work at any other 

 hour or hours of the day and the effort would end in 

 failure. The same law governs the effective use of mus- 

 cles in men that governs the same in horses. 



The farmer who is his own feeder, and who makes the 

 time or times of feeding subservient to the demands of 

 other work greatly errs. Other work is with things inani- 

 mate, or at least with things that do not feel, and conse- 

 quently are not conscious of deprivation. The feeding 

 of a herd or flock, therefore, should never be made to 

 give place to the plowii ^ of a field. 



Unrest and insect pests. As is known to all, certain 

 forms of insect and parasitical life prey upon domestic 

 animals to an extent that seriously hinders growth during 

 the period of growth and production at a later period. 

 These may, speaking in a general way, be divided into 

 three classes ; viz., those which irritate temporarily by 

 their bite or sting ; those which produce prolonged irritation 

 by the intolerable itching which they give rise to, and those 

 which affect a lodgment within the tissues or within cer- 

 tain organs of the body. To the first class belong flies, 



