88 The horse. 



OATS. 



There are several varieties which need not be de 

 scribed. 



Good Oats are about one year old, plump, short, 

 hard, rattling w^hen poured into the manger, sweet, 

 clean, free from chaff and dust, and weighing about 

 forty pounds per bushel. 



New Oats are slightly purgative, indigestible and 

 unprofitable. They seem to resist the action of the 

 stomach, and to retain their nutriment. They make 

 the horse soft; he sweats soon and much at work. 

 If they must be used when under three or four 

 months old, they may be improved by kiln-drying. 

 They are not good, however, till they are about a 

 year old. They may be kept till too old, when they 

 become musty and full of insects. The period at 

 which oats begin to degenerate depends so much 

 upon the manner in which they are harvested and 

 preserved, that the age alone affords no rule for re- 

 jecting them. They can be kept in good condition 

 for several years. 



Oats are sometimes given in the straw, either cut 

 or uncut. The cost of thrashing is saved, but that 

 is no great gain. It cannot be known how much the 

 horse gets. One may be cheated altogether out of 

 a meal, and another may be surfeited. There is al- 

 ways some waste, for the horse must be getting very 

 little grain if he eat all the straw he gets along with 

 it, and if he get more, some of the grain is left in 

 the straw. 



The Daily Allowance of oats is very variable. Hunt- 

 ers and racers receive almost as much as they will 

 eat during the season of work. The quantity for 

 these horses varies from twelve to sixteen or eigh- 

 teen pounds per day. Stage and mail horses get 

 about the same allowance. Some will not consume 



