76 THE PRACTICAL HORSE KEEPER. 



dark-brown in colour, and innuti-itious. If composed of 

 water-meadow grasses, these are seen in abundance, giving a 

 great coarseness to the hay, which is deficient in colour and 

 aroma. 



Hay of medium and of bad quality are often found together, 

 but they should be considered as distinct, as there is a hay of 

 medium quality which, though unsuited for hard-worked or 

 valuable animals, is yet useful for a certain class of horse, as it 

 does not contain anything injurious, but simply, either through 

 a bad season, bad sowing, or being a second crop, is destitute 

 of the nutriment contained in the best quality, having none of 

 those hurtful properties, however, found in bad hay. Again, hay 

 •originally of the best quality will, if kept too long, lose much 

 of its nourishment, and become second-class forage. 



Hay when less than one year old is termed new, and though 

 horses like new hay, experience has shown that it is not good 

 for feeding purposes, being likely to cause purging and abdo- 

 minal pain; indeed, it is considered as innutritious. If it 

 must be used, it should be given only in small quantities, and 

 mixed, if possible, with old hay. It is preferable to give over- 

 ripe, or even slightly weathered, hay, rather than that which is 

 green and juicy. 



Old hay is so called after its first year, and it generally retains 

 its full nutritive properties for one year more ; but, as a general 

 rule, hay deteriorates and becomes dry after being stacked 

 longer than eighteen months. Exceptionally, however, when 

 grown upon good soil, moAvn, and gathered under favourable 

 conditions, it is often after that age more nutritious than the 

 succeeding year's crop. 



New hay is distinguished from old by its green colour, 

 more powerful aroma, the fibres containing sap, particularly at 

 the joints, and by its being softer than old hay, which enables 

 it to undergo more twisting without breaking. A truss of old 

 hay, for the same weight as a truss of new — 56 lbs. — is less in 



