REARING AND FEEDING OF ANIMALS. 325 



to gather their own food, they have too short a time for rest and feeding during 

 the interval. 



The second practice mentioned is, to turn the horses out to pasture at night 

 after work, but in the interval in the middle of the day, to give them cut green 

 forage, which is brought home, and given to them in the stall or stable. In 

 this manner they feed at leisure, undisturbed by insects, and having their food 

 collected to them, waste no time in gathering it in those hours which are suf- 

 fered to elapse between the labour of the morning and that of the afternoon. 

 This is an approved method of managing the horses of the farm. Their health 

 is the better for their being kept out at night, while the advantage of this is 

 combined with the economical practice of soiling. 



The other method of feeding is, to keep the horses constantly in the stable, 

 or in a yard with sheds, and to feed them entirely on green forage. There 

 i.s economy with respect to feeding in this system, and though it would seem 

 to be scarcely so conducive to the permanent health of horses, as to give them 

 a run out in the fields in the summer nights, yet it is found to be perfectly suited 

 to the habits and condition of the farm-horse. Where it is practised, it is better 

 to keep the horses in yards with sheds, than to confine them entirely to the 

 stables. To carry on a system of soiling where clover and rye-grass are the 

 forage plants employed, a quantity of tares, equal to \ acre for each horse, 

 should be sown, to be given to the horses in the intervals between the first and 

 second cutting of clover, or when they are engaged at hard work in harvest, 

 or at other times. 



In the northern parts of this country, farmers cannot generally begin to cut 

 clover till the 1st of June; but in the southern part of the country, the soiling 

 can be commenced much earlier. When there are many horses, one man may 

 be employed to do the work of cutting and putting the cut forage in bunches, 

 and it should be taken home by a spare horse, so as to be ready when the horses 

 return from work. One man will put into bunches a quantity sufficient for 20 

 horses, and each horse will consume upon an average about'200 Ibs. in a day. 



When the horses are turned out to the fields at night, and kept on cut forage 

 during the day, they should be put into their stables by the beginning of Sep- 

 tember, and kept in the house during the night, receiving green forage if it is 

 yet upon the farm, or else receiving hay. By the 1st of October they should 

 generally be put upon hay and corn. 



This, then, forms the circle of feeding of the horses of the farm: They are 

 put on hard food by the beginning of October, receiving hay and a medium 

 allowance of oats. In the months of November, December, and January, their 

 hay is withdrawn, and they are put on straw, receiving a moderate allowance 

 of oats. In February, they are again put on hay, with a full allowance of oats, 

 until about the commencement of June, when they are put on green food, with 

 a lessened allowance of oats, and either fed entirely on cut forage, or pastured 

 during the night, receiving cut forage during the intervals of work in the day. 



In the practice of feeding farm-horses, the utmost care must be taken that 

 they never be allowed to get out of condition. In this case, not only are they 

 unable to perform their work, but it requires a much greater expense to bring 

 them again into order, than it would have required to keep them so. 



In feeding horses, even when upon hard work, a practice has been intro- 

 duced of feeding the horses entirely on boiled or steamed food, with chopped 

 hay and straw. The proportions of the different kinds of food employed in this 

 manner are not subject to rule. But about J in weight of the whole may con- 

 sist of the chaff of straw, $ of the chaff of hay, $ of bruised or coarsely ground 

 strain, and \ may consist of steamed potatoes. To this should be added about 

 2 oz. of common salt. From 30 to 35 Ibs. of this mixed provender, or on an 

 average 32j Ibs. in 24 hours, will suffice for any horse. 



Two methods may be adopted in the giving of this food. Either the whole 

 substances may be mixed together, and a certain proportion given to the horses 

 three or four times in the day; or the dried food alone may be given during the 

 first part of the day, and the steamed food mixed with a portion of the dried 

 food in a mess at night. 



In the first case, that is, when the whole mess is to be mixed together, tKie 

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