GEAINS AND ROOTS. 553 



The quantity of oats given daily may vary from eight 

 to sixteen quarts. If the horse is large, and the work is 

 severe, a little more may be given. Corn should be fed in 

 the ear, and like oats must be regulated in quantity to the 

 size and labor of the animal, from fiA^e to twelve good sized 

 ears are a feed. I give a larger proportion of feed at night, 

 and less in the morning and noon. There is ample time 

 for digestion during the night. There is not during the 

 day, if the labor is severe. Experience proves that some 

 mildly cooling laxative food should be occasionally given. 

 A bran mash, made by pouring boiling water on eight or 

 ten quarts of wheat bran, covered over until cool and fed 

 at night, from one to three times a week, is the finest 

 and best. 



Carrots are a good laxative and alterative before frost, 

 but are too cold and constipating during cold weather. 

 They may be fed in October, November, and December, 

 but in the Northern States not later. 



I feed Irish potatoes, from one to three quarts, with the 

 usual quantity of grain, from two to three or four times a 

 week, and would recommend their use. Feeding a small 

 quantity of roots and giving bran mashes, keeps the bowels 

 open and the system in a healthy condition. Without them 

 constipation is probable, and this is one of the primary 

 causes of diarrhoea, colic, or inflammation of the bowels. If 

 it is desired to make a horse fat in a short time, feed corn 

 meal and shorts, with cut straw, to which add a pint of 

 cheap molasses. Nothing like this for recruiting and filling 

 up a horse that is out of sorts or poor. 



If the horse is exhausted, or when sufficient time can- 

 not be allowed for him to eat and partially digest a full 

 meal, he may be greatly refreshed by a draught of Avarm 

 gruel, or, in summer, of cold water containing a small 

 quantity of meal. 



