82 THE HORSE. 



that wheat straw, and perhaps some of the others, 

 may soon be used much more extensively than 

 they are at present. Good straw is certainly better 

 than bad hay, and possibly, by increasing the allow- 

 ance of grain, and catting the straw, hay might be 

 almost entirely dispensed with. Though containing 

 much less nutriment, it still contains some, and it 

 serves quite as well as hay to divide the grain and 

 give it a wholesome size. It must be understood 

 that food ought to possess bulk proportioned in some 

 degree to the capacity of the digestive organs. Nu- 

 triment can be given in a very concentrated state, 

 yet it is not proper to condense it beyond a certain 

 point. Grain alone will give all the nourishment 

 which any horse can need, but he must also have 

 some fodder to give bulk to the gi'ain, though it need 

 not of necessity yield much nutriment. Straw, there- 

 fore, may often be used where hay is used. 



But when horses are living chiefly on hay, as many 

 farm-horses do, during part of the v/inter, it must 

 not be supposed that an equal quantity, or indeed 

 any quantity of straw, will supply the place of that 

 hay. The stomach and bowels will hardly hold hay 

 enough to nourish even an idle horse, and as straw 

 yields less nutriment in proportion to its bulk, 

 enough cannot be eaten to furnish the nutriment 

 required. The deficiency must be made up by roots 

 or grain. 



When much straw is used, part or the whole ought 

 to be cut into chaff. It is laborious work to masti- 

 cate it all, and in time it will tell upon the teeth, 

 which in old horses are often worn to the gums, even 

 by hay and grain. 



Bai-n Chaff. — The shell which is separated from 

 wheat and oats in thrashing is often given to farm- 

 horses. It seems to be very poor stuft*. It looks as 

 if it contained no nutriment, yet it may serve to di- 

 ▼ide the grain, to make the horse masticate it, and 



