HORSES. 93 



musty and poor. Some save hay by much salt ; but if 

 more salt is put on than animals would eat while con- 

 suming the hay, w^hich is about four or five quarts to the 

 ton, it will be injurious. This would give a horse that 

 eats four tons a year, about forty or fifty pounds of salt, 

 which is much more than the usual allowance of an 

 ounce a day, or eight ounces a week. Avoid all kinds 

 of bad hay, if you would keep your animals in good con- 

 dition. 



Straw, of various kinds, is used as food for stock. It 

 contains some nutriment, and when animals are fed 

 highly on grain, straw is better than hay, as it gives 

 bulk to fill the stomach, with less nutriment. The value 

 of straw depends much on the time it is harvested, and 

 the manner of saving It is much better for being cut 

 in a machine. 



Corn fodder is valuable, being very nutritious and 

 palatable, when cut in season and well cured. A good 

 crop will afford six tons of dry fodder to the acre. 



Other Plants. As we have said of green herbage, 

 there are hundreds of plants that afford good dry fodder, 

 when cut in their tender state and well saved. Some, 

 that animals will not eat in their green state, are quickly 

 devoured when dry. Horses and other animals wiU eat 

 poisonous plants, and lobelia, in a dry state, which they 

 avoid when green. [See Poisons.] 



Oats are used more extensively for horses than any 

 grain. They are an excellent food, giving strength and 

 spirit ; and, omng to the hull, they afford the stimulus 

 of distention, as well as nutriment. They are less liable 

 to injure horses than corn, wheat or rye, which are more 

 solid, or concentrated food. There is a vast difference 

 in the value of oats, — some having full meat, others 

 bemg mostly hulls. Some weigh twice as much as 

 others, and this should be considered in purchasing and 

 feeding. 



Bad oats are often given to horses, which have an un- 

 favorable effiect, producing the diabetes and other dis- 

 eases. Sometimes oats are injured by storms, or in 



