FOOD AND WATER 259 



closely covered up in the meantime. All horses which arc not inclined to 

 scour should, when they are kept on hay and corn, have a mash once a 

 week, selecting the night before the most idle day in it. The cfFect is a 

 gentle action on the bowels without purgation, by which all tendency to 

 mechanical stoppage is prevented without weakening the horse. On the 

 evening when the mash is given the usual feed of corn is omitted, the hay 

 being given in slightly reduced quantity, unless the bowels are very con- 

 fined, when a bucketful of mash may be given by itself ; but few horses will 

 eat more than half a bucket of bran. 



Linseed, like bran, is chiefly used medicinally, that is to say, to produce 

 certain effects upon the body which are not required to be permanent. 

 These are, first, to increase the fatty matter deposited in the flesh ; and 

 secondly, to soothe the mucous membranes. For the former purpose half-a- 

 pint or a pint of linseed is scalded and set to simmer by the fire till it has 

 become a glutinous mass, when it is mixed up with a quart of bran, and is 

 given every night till the desired change is produced. To produce an effect 

 upon the mucous membrane, the linseed should be boiled slowly in two 

 quarts of water, and this should be mixed with a quart of bran, and given 

 as warm as the horse will eat it. 



Hempseed is occasionally given to entire horses, but it cannot be con- 

 sidered as a regular article of food. 



Chaff is composed of hay and straw, or clover hay alone, or sometimes 

 oat straw by itself, cut into short lengths. It is given mixed with the 

 corn, the object being to induce the horse to masticate this thoroughly. In 

 many large cab and omnibus stables, as well as those where horses stand at 

 livery, no hay is given excepting what is cut up with straw in the shape of 

 chaff". Here the object is to induce the horse to grind his corn well and 

 quickly, so that his whole body, but especially his legs, will be refreshed in 

 the recumbent position. The plan seems to answer well under the peculiar 

 conditions in which such horses are placed, but there can be no doubt that 

 it is unsuited to produce the highest condition of which the horse is capable. 

 Moreover, it is a great object to amuse the animal when he is not worked 

 very hard, and this is far better done by giving him some portion of the hay 

 in his rack for him to play with, than by cutting all of it up into chaff. 

 For these reasons the practice in private stables is to cut up about two 

 bushels of chaff for each horse weekly, thus allowing about a peck a day to 

 mix with an equal quantity of corn. This is quite enough to induce him to 

 grind his oats and beans, if he has any, without depiiving him of his amuse- 

 ment in picking his hay out of his rack. I am quite awai'e that in large 

 establishments economy is practised by cutting all the hay into chaff, but 

 the saving per head is small, and is not worth at tention for private horse- 

 keepers, if it can be shown that it affects the health or comfort of the horse 

 in the slightest degree. In London clover hay is extensively used by itself 

 as chaff, but elsewhere throughout England the practice is to cut up equal 

 quantities of oat or wheat straw, with some of the hay that is provided for 

 the racks. These are placed in alternate layers in the chaff-cutting machine, 

 and they are thus sufficiently amalgamated to prevent the horse from 

 picking out the one and leaving the other. If the master has not obtained 

 a machine, there are in all towns men who go about with one to cut the 

 chaff once a week at a small sum per bushel. 



