86 THE HORSE. 



comes accustomed to it, these effects are not pro- 

 duced. Carrots also improve the state of the skin. 

 They form a good substitute for grass, and an ex- 

 cellent alterative for horses out of condition. To 

 sick and idle horses they render grain unnecessary. 

 They are beneficial in all chronic diseases of the 

 organs connected with breathing, and have a mark- 

 ed influence upon chronic cough and broken wind. 

 They are serviceable in diseases of the skin. 'In 

 combination with oats, they restore a worn-out horse 

 much sooner than oats alone. 



CaiTOts are usually given raw. Sometimes they 

 are boiled or steamed, but horses seem to like them 

 better raw. They are washed and sliced. They 

 are often mingled with the grain, but I think they ought 

 to form a separate feed. They diminish the con- 

 sumption of both hay and grain. Some tell me that 

 six, others that eight pounds of caiTOts, are equal to 

 four pounds of oats. But the calculation cannot be 

 much depended upon, for the horse may eat more 

 or less hay without the difference being observed. 

 According to Curwen, a work-horse getting from 

 eight to twelve pounds of grain, may have four pounds 

 deducted for every five he receives of carrots. Foi 

 fast- working horses, carrots never entirely supersede 

 grain. Mention is made, indeed, of an Essex sports- 

 man who gave his hunters each a-bushel of carrots 

 daily with a little hay, but no grain ; the horses are 

 said to have followed a pack of harriers twice a 

 week, but the possibility of doing this needs furthe ' 

 proof. For slow- working horses, carrots may supply 

 the place of grain quite well, at least for those em- 

 ployed on the farm. Buitows, an English agricul- 

 turist, gave his farm-horses each seventy pounds of 

 carrots per day, along with chaff and barn-door re- 

 fuse, with which the carrots were sliced and mixed. 

 He gave a little rack-hay at night, but no grain. He 

 fed bis horses in this* way from the end of October 



