ITS FOOD. 



achs should contain. Over-gorging is likewise promoted by the habit 

 of subjecting all kinds of horses to prolonged and unnatural periods of 

 abstinence. The consequences of such customs are exemplified in the 

 attenuated stomachs of most old subjects. Often this viscus, upon the 

 muscular and secretive actions of which the health and the strength are 

 dependent, when taken from the body of an animal which has long been 

 subjected to the abuses practiced in the modern stables, is of so stretched 

 a nature as to be semi-transparent, and sometimes as thin as brown 

 p&per. 



When a horse returns home, after a long fast, it is most unwise to 

 place the famished life before a heaped manger. First attend to its 

 immediate requirements. These satisfied, and the harness removed, a 

 pail of gruel should be offered to the animal. The writer knows it is 

 said by many grooms that their horses will not drink gruel ; the author 

 likewise is aware that most servants dislike the bother attendant on its 

 preparation, while few understand the manner in which it should be 

 prepared. The general plan is to stir a little oatmeal into any pail 

 containing hot water, and to offer the mess, under the name of gruel, 

 to the palate which long abstinence may have rendered fastidious. The 

 horse only displays its intelligence when it rejects the potion thus rudely 

 concocted. 



No stable is complete unless its furniture embraces a two-gallon pot, 

 and a pail which is kept sacred to cleanly purposes. Then, with regard 

 to oatmeal; this substance, as commonly sold by corn-chandlers, and 

 some bakers, is positively rank. It is naturally sweeter even than other 

 meals ; but, by long keeping, it contracts a jmngent and a most unpleas- 

 ant taste. To be good, it should be fresh ; and the coarser it is, the finer 

 is the gruel which it yields. 



There are few places in London where the oatmeal which is purchased 

 can be depended upon. The writer, however, has for several months 

 enjoyed, every morning and night, a mess of most excellent porridge, 

 made from coarse Scotch or "round" meal procured of Mr. C. Rayment, 

 corn-chandler. Queen's Buildings, Knightsbridge. It is so sweet and 

 pleasant that the diet requires no "Kitchener," or accompanying condi- 

 ment, to recommend it. The preparation is eaten without flavoring; 

 and it seems to possess medicinal properties, as under its use the writer 

 has lost that yellowness of skin which formerly denoted the liver to be 

 deranged, while he is rapidly regaining health, and has entirely discarded 

 the employment of drugs. 



One quart of Mr. C. Rayment's Scotch oatmeal should be thrown into 

 the two-gallon pot, which is to be gradually filled with boiling water, a 

 little cold being first used, merely to divide the grains. The saucepan 



