140 FOOD. 



fore acts better upon its contents, and is not so likely to bo 

 over- loaded ; and the increased quantity of saliva thrown out in 

 the protracted maceration of the food, softens it, and makes ib 

 more fit for digestion. 



Cut feed may be composed of equal quantities of clover or of 

 meadow hay ; and wheaten, oaten, or barley straw, cut into 

 pieces of a half or an incli in length, and mingled v/ell to- 

 gether ; the allowance of oats or beans is afterwards added, 

 and mixed v/ith the whole. Many farmers very properly 

 bruise the oats or beans. The v,iiole oat is apt to slip out 

 of the feed and be lost ; but when it is bruised, and espe- 

 cially if the feed is wet a little, it will not readily separate, or, 

 should a portion of it escape the grinders, it v/ill be partly pre- 

 pared for digestion by the act of bruising. The prejudice 

 against bruising the oats is utterly unfounded, so far as the 

 farmer's horse, and the wagon horse, and every horse of slow 

 draught, are concerned. The quantity of straw in the feed will 

 always counteract, any supposed purgative quality in bruised 

 oats. Horses of quicker draught, unless they are actually in- 

 clined to scour, will thrive better on bruised than on whole oats ; 

 for a greater quantity of nutriment will be extracted from tlie 

 food, and it will always be easy to apportion the quantity of 

 straw or beans to the effect of the mixture on the bowels of the 

 horse. The principal alteration that should be made for the 

 horse of harder and more rapid work, such as the post-horse 

 and the stage-coach horse, is to increase the quantity of hay, 

 and diminish that of straw. Two trusses of hay may be cut 

 with one of straw. 



Some gentlemen, in defiance of the prejudice and opposition 

 of the coachman or groom, have introduced this mode of feed- 



