FOOD. 1T9 



IS then placed on the fire, and its contents are to be briskly stirred unal 

 the liquid has boiled for ten minutes. After this, it may be put where 

 it will only just simmer ; and, in one hour, the gruel will be ready, or 

 in shorter time, should the fire be fierce. The liquid is then poured 

 through a sieve, or should the steed be excessively exhausted, the gruel 

 may be mixed with one quart of sound ale and with half a pound of 

 sugar. The solid part is mingled, while hot, with an equal quantity 

 of bran, and this mixture, having been closely covered, is placed in the 

 manger half an hour after the gruel has been imbibed. 



Some horses, however, purge when brought home after a long fast. 

 Such animals are generally of a loose and weakly constitution. For 

 creatures of this description the bran would prove injurious, and an 

 additional pint of meal had better be boiled in a quart of water, which, 

 when mixed with the solid from which the gruel has been strained, will 

 constitute a moist and highly nutritious diet for a delicate horse. The 

 author has, for experiment, tried this form of food upon several quad- 

 rupeds, which he was assured abhorred everything like mash or gruel ; 

 but only in one instance was the preparation not eagerly consumed. In 

 the exceptional case it was not entirely rejected, being partly eaten ; but 

 the writer suspects the apparently dainty quadruped had been previously 

 supplied with a more than usual quantity of oats, as the behavior rather 

 testified to want of appetite than denoted any positive dislike of the 

 nourishment which was before the animal. 



Besides hay, corn is commonly used in this country as , a food for 

 horses. The corn of the English stable is almost confined to oats. In 

 foreign lands various substances are employed. General, however, as 

 the adoption of oats may be in this kingdom, few, very few persons, 

 beyond the limits of the corn market, have any distinct notion concern- 

 ing this kind of grain. With the vast majority an oat is an oat, and all 

 oats are of one kind. In exceptional cases, gentlemen are partial to oats 

 of some particular hue. Certain persons will purchase only a black oat; 

 another class prefer a full golden tint, to distinguish the kind they favor ; 

 while a few admire a whiteness of husk. Such differences, however, 

 do not affect the grain ; the colors are limited to the chaff — the kernels 

 of all are of one tint. 



The kernel, or the mealy substance of oats, differs in each variety of 

 corn. One sample shall be thick in the husk, and possessed of a super- 

 abundance of beard ; but the body of such corn will be narrow, also of 

 contrasting sizes and of various colors. 



The inferior specimens are commonly mixed with other seeds, with 

 pieces of stick and portions of straw, as well as sometimes adulterated 

 by the piesence of other grain. These oats may impart a saltish flavor 



