FOOD. IT" 



dinary notions as to the ingredients suited for such a form of provender 

 Hay, which the animal refuses to touch when placed in the rack, is often 

 salted and cut into chaff. Thus seasoned, and in such a shape being 

 mixed with corn, it may be eaten. The horse is imposed upon by the 

 salt and the oats which were mingled with the trash ; but the sane pro- 

 prietor has only to calmly inquire of himself — whether that savor which 

 disguised the taste can also change an unwholesome substance into a 

 wholesome nutriment? 



It is likewise a prevailing custom to cut straws of different kinds and 

 to throw the rubbish into the chaff bin. Such a practice is spoken of as 

 among the improvements of modern horse-feeding. The quadruped may 

 consume this species of refuse, but it is, in the author's judgment, not a 

 matter for doubt whether such articles merely distend the stomach or 

 whether they can nourish the body. People who advocate cheapness 

 may be favorable to the use of straw; but these persons should not 

 deceive themselves, far less ought they to impose upon others, by assert- 

 ing so exhausted a material can possibly prove a supporting constituent 

 of diet. 



Within the stem of the ripened wheat plant no sap circulates. All 

 the strength of the growth has gone to the seed. Were not the sa^jless 

 stalk cut and preserved by man, it would shortly topple over, and, by 

 decay, be mingled with the soil. It is well understood that grass, after 

 it has shed its seed, is unsuited for making a nutritious hay. Grain- 

 yielding plants are only cultivated grasses ; and the art which has en- 

 larged the seed and lengthened the stem cannot pretend also to have 

 mastered the laws of natur^ by having endowed a refuse material with 

 nutritious properties. Persons who desire to have straw mingled with 

 the manger food of the horse, should take some pains to procure articles 

 rightfully prepared. The plants should be mown while green ; be prop- 

 erly treated, stacked, and husbanded with more than the care usually 

 bestowed on ordinary stems. The same rule should be observed with 

 j'egard to bean stalks, or whatever else is to be severed into lengths, and 

 is to be esteemed a fitting food for the horse. 



Thus prepared, the wheat stem might prove worthy the repute which 

 is at present bestowed upon its exhausted representative. When har- 

 vested after this plan, the stalk would retain all that virtue which, at a 

 later season, is expended upon the seed. It would nourish as well as 

 distend. Indeed, the popular custom of giving horses that for food 

 which adds to the bulk of provender, but does not support the system, 

 cannot be too strongly reprobated ; yet such a practice is followed in the 

 great majority of existing stables. The animals, to satisfy the cravings 

 of appetite, are compelled to devour more than their diminutive stom- 



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