72 THE HORSE. 



ARTICLES USED AS FOOD. 



KINDS OF FOOD. 



In this country horses are fed upon oats, hay, 

 grass and roots. Many people talk as if they could 

 be fed on nothing else. But in other parts of the 

 world, where the productions of the soil are differ- 

 ent, the food of the horse is different. " In some 

 sterile countries they are forced to subsist on dried 

 fish, and even on vegetable mould ; in Arabia, on 

 milk, flesh-balls, eggs, broth, &;c. In India, horses 

 are variously fed. The native grasses are judged 

 very nutritious. Few, perhaps no oats are grown ; 

 barley is rare, and not commonly given to horses. 

 In Bengal, a vetch, something like the tare, is used. 

 On the western side of India, a sort of pigeon-pea, 

 called gram (cicer arietinum, ) forms the ordinary 

 food, with grass while in season, and hay all the 

 year round. Indian com or rice is seldom given. 

 In the West Indies, maize, Guinea corn, sugar-cane 

 tops, and sometimes molasses, are given. In the 

 Mahratta country, salt, pepper, and other spices are 

 made into balls with flour and butter, and these are 

 supposed to produce animation, and to fine the coat. 

 .l3roth made from sheep's head is sometimes given, 

 in Fiance, Spain and Italy, besides the grasses, the 

 Jeaves of limes, vines, the tops of acacia, and the 

 j^ceds of the carab-tree, are given to horses." 



The articles upon which horses are fed in this 

 country are usually arranged into three classes. 

 That which possesses the least nutriment in propor- 

 tion to its bulk, is tQ^rae^ fodder, and consists of 

 grass, hay and straw ; that which possesses the most 

 nutriment in proportion to its bulk, is termed grain. 

 Tills word is often used as if it belonged exclusively 

 to oats ; but it is a general name for all the kinds of 

 grain and pulse upon which horses are fed. In this 



