OIL-MEAL AND SALT 311 



oil-meal helps to narrow the almost invariably too wide 

 ration, corrects constipation and tends to make the skin 

 pliable and the hair soft. Nevertheless, it is seldom 

 that the farmer can be persuaded to purchase even a 

 single ton of oil-meal, or to feed it even in an experi- 

 mental way. He has been feeding, for instance, four 

 quarts of grain at a time, the measure full. If he adds 

 a pound of oil-meal to the ration, the supply is soon 

 exhausted. He has seen no marked beneficial results, 

 since he has not observed closely enough to have seen 

 the constant little changes for the better, day by day; 

 and he comes to the conclusion that his twenty -five 

 dollars which he paid for the ton of oil-meal has been 

 thrown away, and, of course, purchases no more. 



Draft- and farm -horses require more salt than do 

 those put to less severe work. Salt should be accessible 

 at all times in the stall. The common soft salt is to be 

 preferred to rock salt, especially the cheap kinds, as the 

 tongues of the animals may be irritated by licking it, 

 notably of those requiring a liberal supply. Four horses 

 on dry feed ate twenty -eight pounds of salt in fifty -six 

 days, or two ounces per day per horse. In experiments 

 with cows, at the end of forty-three days it was found 

 that they consumed three and fifteen one hundredth 

 ounces of salt per cow per day. 



Horses relish a little hard-wood ashes, and it used to 

 be a common practice among farmers to supply them 

 with limited quantities, once each week. Horses, as well 

 as pigs, when fed on dry food, appear to be benefited 

 by small quantities of charcoal, if they do not have 

 access to the ground. 



