AGRICULTURE AND THE HORSE. 401 



the days of his childhood. A little milk from the cow 

 once a day for a few days, and a pint, or thereabouts, 

 of oats and shorts, with rowen or fine hay, a mixture of 

 red- top and herds-grass, will carry him over the trials 

 of being separated from his dam. But all this must 

 cease as soon as possible ; and that diet of good hay and 

 roots, which is to serve him until put upon the road, 

 must be commenced. I have known many a colt 

 ruined by heavy feed this first winter. It is pleasant to 

 see his glossy coat and lively head and mature neck, 

 and well-developed form under a good supply of oats, 

 ''with just a little cracked corn." But all this pleasure 

 will vanish if you look carefully at those knees, which 

 tremble a little after exercise ; and it will still more en- 

 tirely vanish if you will examine him after his summer's 

 run at grass, and wonder why he looks no better, and has 

 not grown more. " It has been a bad season for colts," 

 you say. But no: the season has been good enough 

 for those young things which wintered well in a box 

 and a barn-yard, had simple food, were kept healthy and 

 thriving, and went out in the spring a little ragged, it 

 is true, and not over-fat, but as hardy as cold air and 

 good appetites could make them. The season has been 

 good enough for these. I have said, good hay and roots : 

 and by roots I do not mean carrots, — the most unsatis- 

 factory root that horse, young or old, can eat, producing 

 an unhealthy state of the skin and kidneys, overloading 

 the cellular tissues with fat, and making a horse as 

 washy as a lather-brush ; but I mean Swedish turnips, 



