OATS.] 



THE HOBSE, AND 



[baulet. 



this would be of little consequence for liome 

 consumption. 



The comparative advantages of chaff and 

 rack-feeding, are thus given by Professor 

 Stewart : — 



" Where the stablemen are careful, waste of 

 fodder is diminished, but not prevented, bj 

 feeding from the manger. 



" Where the racks are good, careful stable- 

 men may prevent nearly all waste of fodder, 

 without cutting it. 



" An accurate distribution of fodder is not a 

 very important object. 



" No horse seems to like his corn the better 

 for being mingled with chaff. 



"Among half-starved horses, chaff-cutting 



promotes the consumption of damaged fodder. 



" Full-fed horses, rather than eat the mixture 



of sound with unsound, will reject the whole, 



or eat less than their work demands. 



" Chaff is more easily eaten than hay. This 

 is an advantage to old horses and others 

 working all day— a disadvantage when the 

 horses stand long in the stable. 



"Chaff ensures complete mastication and 

 deliberate digestion of the corn. It is of con- 

 siderable, and of most importance in tliis 

 respect. All the fodder need not to be 

 mingled with the corn; one pound of chaff 

 being sufficient to secure the mastication and 

 slow ingestion of four pounds of corn. 



"The cost of cutting all the fodder, es- 

 pecially for heavy horses, is repaid only when 

 hay is dear, and wasted in large quantities. 



"Among hard-working horses, bad food 

 should never be cut." 



We will now briefly enumerate the principal 

 vegetables which enter into the food of the 

 horse. 



OATS. 



In almost every part of Great Britain, oats 

 have been selected as that portion of the food 

 which is to afford the principal nourishment. 

 They contain seven hundred and forty-three 

 parts out of a thousand, of nutritive matter, 

 and should be old, heavy, dry, and sweet. 

 New oats will weigh ten or fifteen per cent- 

 more than old ; but the difference consists prin- 

 cipally in watery matter, which is gradually 

 evaporated. New oats are not so easily ground 

 down by the teeth as old ones, and form a 

 132 



more glutinous mass, difficult to digest. There- 

 fore, when eaten in considerable quantities, 

 they are apt to become so unwholesome as to 

 occasion colic, and even staggers. Oats should 

 be plump, bright in colour, and free from 

 unpleasant taste or smell. The musty smell 

 of wetted or damaged corn, is caused by a 

 fungus which grows upon the seed, and which 

 has an injurious eftect on the urinary organs, 

 and often on the intestines, producing profuse 

 staling, inflammation of the kidney or colic, 

 and also of the bowels. This musty smell 

 may be removed by kiln-drying the oats, but 

 care should be taken that too great a degree 

 of heat is not employed. This, however, should 

 be sufficient to destroy the fungus, without 

 injuring the vitality of the seed. Kiln-burnt 

 oats are not so grateful to the animal, as they 

 acquire a heating quality, which not unfre- 

 quently produces inflammation of the eyes, and 

 mangy aflections of the skin. All the expense 

 of threshing the unthreshed oat-straw would 

 be saved if cut for chafl". It is better than 

 barley straw, but does not contain so much 

 nourishment as that of wheat. When the 

 horse is fed on hay and oats, the quantity of 

 the latter must vary with his size and the 

 work to be performed. Nine or ten pounds 

 a day will be a fair allowance for one of 

 fifteen hands one or two inches high, in mode- 

 rate work, with a proportionate quantity of hay. 

 In summer, when green food is given daily, 

 reduce the quantity one-half. Such animals 

 as work on the farm, have from ten to fourteen 

 pounds, and the hunter from twelve to sixteen. 

 There is no kind of food that can be safely 

 substituted for good oats; as they have an 

 inherent strengthening property which is not 

 possessed by other kinds of food. 



For the weary and tired horse, a pint of 

 oatmeal thrown into a pail of water, is an 

 admirable drink. It forms, also, an excellent 

 gruel for the sick horse, leaving it to be drunk 

 of his own accord when slung in his box, and 

 water is denied him. As a poultice it is also 

 excellent, having more stimulating properties 

 than linseed meal when used alone. 



BARLEY. 

 Barley is a common food of the horse on 

 various parts of the continent, and, before the 

 introduction of oats, seems to have constituted 



