148 FOOD. 



gency of the bean. There are few travelers who are not aware 

 of the difference in the spirit and continuance of the horse, 

 whether he is allowed or denied beans during the continuance 

 of the journey. They afford not merely a temporary stimulus, 

 but they may be daily used without losing their power, or pro- 

 ducing exhaustion. They are indispensable to the hard-worked 

 coach-horse. Weakly horses could never get through their 

 work without them ; and old horses would otherwise often sink 

 under the task imposed upon them. They should not be given 

 whole, or split, but crushed. This will make a material differ- 

 ence in the quantity of nutriment which will be extracted. They 

 are sometimes given to turf-horses, but only as an occasional 

 stimulant. Two pounds of beans ma}^ with advantage, be 

 mixed with the chaff of the agricultural horse, during the winter. 

 In summer, the quantity of beans should be lessened, or they 

 should be altogether discontinued. Beans are generally given 

 whole. This is very absurd ; for "the young horse, whose teeth 

 are strong, seldom requires them ; while the old horse, to whom 

 they are in a measure necessary, is scarcely able to masticate 

 tliem, swallows many of them which he is unable to break, and 

 drops much grain from his mouth in the ineffectual attempt to 

 crush them. Beans should not be merely split, but crushed ; as 

 they will even then furnish sufficient employment for the grin- 

 ders of the animal. Some persons use chaff with beans, instead 

 of oats. This may possibly be allowed with hardly-worked 

 horses ; but, in general cases, beans without oats would be too 

 binding and stimulating, and would produce costiveness, and 

 probably megrims or staggers. 



Beans should be at least a twelvemonth old before they are 

 given to the horse, and they should be carefully preserved from 



