1356 



ENCYCLOPAEDIA OF AGRICULTURE. 



SUPPLEMENT. 



machine Into grits. In which Itate it is very clean and tasteful. The flour obtained from the s ; eve is 

 daltit] .ind vitv tit for cakes," &c. I Com. Hoard Agr., vol. i.) 

 8449 B199. The extirpation of ferns in pastures, where the plough cannot be used. The Highland 



Society having Offered a premium lor the best essay on this subject, two were produced and published. 



( Trans. II. s'., vol. w, p. 371.) In both, the writers, finding that ferns grew always in dry land, propose 

 to irrigate it for a few years. A knowledge of the functions of the leaves of plants would have suggested 



the cutting off of these in their incipient State, al soi hi gj tiny made their appearance above the soil, and 

 consequently before thej had time to return any nutriment to the root ; which will not only kill ferns, but 

 every other plant whatever. 



HIM). — (i'JIM. The varieties of the horst described lii/ Professor Low, are : 1. The race horse ; 2. The 

 hunter: 3. The Connemara, or Irish pony lined, of Spanish origin; 4. Classes of British horses: viz. 

 Zetland ponies ; < >i kney ponies ; Highland ponies ; Welch, Dartmoor. Kxmoor, and Hampshire horses ; 

 hack horses, and Galloways of the borders ; 5. The old English black horse ; 6. The Cleveland bay ; 

 7. The Suffolk punch ; 8. "The Clydesdale breed. (Low's Domestic Animals, vol. i.) 



8151 — 6594. A machine for fixing horses while /icing shod, of a simple and effective description, has 

 recently been invented by Mr. James Catdeugh, millwright In Haddington, a mechanic of very great ge- 

 nius ; which will be found described and figured in the Quart. Jour. Apr., vol. iii. p. 510. 



8 152.— 6998. Railway's concave horse-shoe is particularly applicable in the case of horses that have to 

 pass over wood pavement ; and it is also said to contribute much to the comfort of the horse in every 

 other description of road. (Brit. /•'. M., N. S., vol. vi. p. 4:26.) 



8153 — 6684, The following plan of feeding horses has been practised by Dr. Sully of Wiveliscombe, in 

 Somersetshire, for upwards of twenty years. In Dr. Sully's stables there are no racks for holding hay ; 

 for in his opinion a horse with a well-tilled rack will consume and spoil upwards of thirty pounds of hay in 

 twenty-four hours ; whereas, if the hay were cut down, and mixed with a due proportion of cut straw, 

 and bruised or coarsely ground oats or other grain, ten pounds are sufficient. In the loft, above the 

 horses, Dr. Sully has prepared proportionable quantities of the food with which his horses are daily 

 supplied ; and a very simple method has been devised to convey it, when mixed, to the manger of each 

 horse. A wooden pipe is made to pass from the loft into each of the mangers, and close by the mouth 

 of the pipe, in the loft, is placed a tub, of size enough to contain what is sufficient food for a horse for 

 twenty four hours. To prevent the horse, in searching for grain, from tossing out of the manger the 

 mixed food which is dropped into it, oak crossbars, twelve inches distant, are nailed over it ; between 

 these bars ample space remains for the horse to feed. As there can be no dependence on the measured 

 quantities of grain or other food given to the horse, from the variation at times in the respective weights 

 of equal quantities. Dr. Sully recommends, and, indeed, regards it as necessary, that grain of all kinds, 

 and also the cut hay and straw, should be carefully weighed. When all the ingredients are so prepared, 

 the proportions for each horse are allotted. From the following table will be seen the different articles 

 of food, and the quantities and weight of each, which the horses should receive: — 



1. Farinaceous substances, consisting of bruised or ground beans, 



peas, wheat, barley, or oats - 



2. Bran, fine or coarse ...... 



3. Boiled or steamed potatoes, mashed in a tub with a wooden 



bruiser ........ 



4. Fresh grains (boiled barley) - 



5. Hay cut down into chaff ...... 



fi. S":'iw cut down into chaff ------ 



7. Malt dust, or ground oil-cake - 



With two ounces of salt for each class. By this table it will be seen that each horse receives thirty 

 pounds of food in the twenty-four hours, a quantity that w ill in all cases be found to be amply sufficient. 

 The addition of two ounces of salt is necessary to assist the digestion of the food. Of the four classes into 

 which Dr. Sully divides his ingredients for feeding, those two which contain the steamed or boiled 

 potatoes are the most recommended. No food conduces more to the healthy working condition of 

 horses than the steamed or boiled potatoes ; and we may observe, with relation to this, as well as to other 

 kinds of food, that, when the horse comes in weary and hungry, after a long day's work, it is necessary 

 to fill his manger more copiously with the ingredients prepared for him. Dr. Sully and all the other 

 persons who have devised improved methods of feeding agree in the practices of bruising or coarsely 

 grinding the grain and beans, of cutting down the hay and straw, of giving no hay in the rack, of allow. 

 ing salt, and of weighing each article separately before mixture, instead of adopting the fallacious guide 

 of measurement. (Quart. Jour, of Agr., vol. ii. p. 727.) 



8454. Road horses, in some parts of Scotland, and more especially in the neighbourhood of Edinburgh 

 and Glasgow, are fed on equal parts of oat-straw and hay, cut by a machine in the lengths of from one 

 eighth to one sixteenth of an inch. The cut straw and "hay so produced are intimately mixed together, 

 and, when musty, sometimes sprinkled with a little salt and water. The drink given to the horses is 

 water in which oats or barley have been boiled, and the grain so boiled is found to equal double its 

 quantity of raw grain in keeping horses in condition. 



8455 — f>717. Feeding horses. As the result of an experiment tried with boiled grain, raw grain un- 

 bruised, and raw gram bruised or cut, it appears that by far the most profitable mode is to give the 

 grain raw but previously bruised or cut. (Trans. H. S.) 



g |56. — The ox. " The important family of which the common ox may be regarded as typical, divides 

 itself into three groups, — the Bisontine, the Bubaline, and the Taurine. The bisons inhabit both the 

 Old and New Continents, and are distinguished by round, smooth horns, and a musky odour which ex- 

 bales from the skin. The buffaloes are characterised by angular horns, and a fainter odour of musk, 

 and are natives of the warmer regions of Asia and Africa. The taurine group, comprehending the 

 common ox and its different races, forms the most important division of bovidae." (Low's Domestic 

 A. n, il, lis. vol. i. p. 1.) 



8 157. The varieties of the Taurine group described by Professor Tow are : 1 . The wild or white forest 

 breed. 2. The Highland breeds, the finest of which is the West Highland. 3. The Zetland. 4. The 

 polled Angus. 5. The Galloway. 0. The Welch, the finest of which are the Pembrokes. 7. The Kerry. 

 8. The North Devon. 9. The Sussex. 10. The Glamorganshire. 11. The Herefordshire. 12. The 

 Ablerney. 13. The Ayrshire. 14. The polled Suffolk. 15. The Falkland. 16. The polled Irish. 17. The 

 sheeted breed of Somersetshire. 18. The long-horned. 19. The Teeswater short-horned, or Durham. 

 (Loir's Domestic Animals, vol. i. p. 56.) 



8 158, The points by which the different breedi of cattle may be judged, are given in the Quart. Jour. Agr., 

 vol. v. p. 169. ; vol. vi. p. 266. 133. and 54fi., by Mr. James Dickson, cattle dealer, Edinburgh, in a superior 

 manner to anything of the kind which we have before seen in print. We can only spare room to extract 

 a few features. 



I. The short horns. The frame exhibitH a straight level back from behind the horns to the top of the 



