Live Stock. 107 



practices discovered in one district, were transferred to, and 

 adopted in, other parts of the kingdom. 



5. When articles of food become scarce and dear, it is 

 of great importance, to discover any mode, by which the 

 article to be used, can be made to go farther. In such a 

 case, labour or expense, properly applied, is not to be put 

 in competition with the advantages of diminishing the quan- 

 tity of food consumed. Two plans may be adopted for that 

 purpose ; either preparing the article for consumption by 

 machinery, or by cookery. 



It is well known that hay or straw^ will go much farther, 

 when cut, than when entire. If a horse is compelled to cut 

 these articles with his teeth, the labour occasions a diminu- 

 tion of strength ; and the time it requires, diminishes what 

 might be devoted to repose. It is now pretty generally ad- 

 mitted, that the saliva from the mouth is not essential for 

 promoting digestion; that important operation being chief- 

 ly performed by the gastric juice in the stomach. If there- 

 fore the nourishment is put into the stomach, in a state fit 

 for the gastric juice to act upon it, whether that is perform- 

 ed by machinery from without, or by the teeth within, is 

 immaterial. Hence, it appears, that machines for cutting 

 hay or straw, are highly beneficial. 



Nor is it of less importance, to crush the corn given to 

 horses, whether beans or oats, particularly the former, which 

 become extremely hard, when long kept. If the gastric 

 juice finds any part that it can act upon, however small, it 

 will digest the whole ; but it ought, if possible, to have that 

 advantage secured to it. 



It is likewise an additional improvement, to prepare the 

 food of our domestic animals by cookery. Steaming pota- 

 toes is of use, by preventing the deleterious effects of the 

 skin of that article, from which, when given in a raw state, 

 many horses having suffered ; and those who have tried 

 steaming chaff and potatoes, or giving their horses a mash 

 of boiled barley, will not be readily induced to give up these 

 practices. Indeed, barley, in a raw state, is preferred to 

 oats, in Wiltshire, for feeding horses ; and in the south- 

 ern parts of Europe, that species called bear, or big, is 

 usually given them ; and with it they thrive as well, and 

 it is said, can go through as much labour as when fed on oats. 

 When oats therefore are dear, and barley cheap, it may be 

 worth while to give horses alternate feeds of each article. 



On the whole, these hints are submitted to the considera- 

 tion of those who may be desirous of diminishing the ex- 



