CHAPTER IX 

 GRAIN AND VEGETABLES 



^ I ^HE staple grains are, of course, oats, corn, and 

 -*- bran. There are many kinds of prepared feed 

 on the market, some of them very bad, some fairly 

 good and some perhaps that are very good, but the 

 safest way is to avoid them all unless you have special 

 *' inside " knowledge abcKJt them. Oats are the proper 

 food of a driving horse, and, we think in New England, 

 should be the principal grain fed to any kind of a horse. 

 In the South and West corn is fed more than oats, but 

 in the eastern and middle states corn is feared as a 

 cause of colic, and many horse-owners, truckmen espe- 

 cially, look upon it as almost a poison. However, the 

 most sagacious and the most experienced horse-owners 

 feed more or less corn to work-horses in cold weather, 

 and no doubt this Is beneficial. In the first place, corn 

 supplies heat which is much needed in a New England 

 winter, especially by horses exposed in all weathers; 

 secondly, it is nutritious; and thirdly, it offers some 

 variety from the regular feed of oats. The best way 

 to feed corn is on the cob, the next best Is probably in 

 the form of cracked corn, the third best in the form 

 of whole corn. 



Cornmeal fed by itself is dangerous for it tends to 

 form a compact mass In the stomach and thus produce 

 colic. Cornmeal should be fed either with bran or 



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