162 Feeding. 



viz., Saturday evening. For this purpose two or 

 three pounds of bran are saturated with boiling 

 water, scarcely half a feed of oats is also added, 

 together with a little linseed prepared according 

 to details which follow. The whole is then allowed 

 to cool, and when at the temperature of new milk 

 given to the animal. In many well regulated town 

 stables this forms a constant practice. 



In some places the laxative qualities of bran 

 are believed to be useful in removing calculi or 

 stones from the intestines, and on this account it is 

 used very extensively. Having specially investi- 

 gated this subject, we do not think it improbable 

 that the bran itself has much to do with their 

 formation. Where it is so largely used, containing 

 a quantity of dust also from the floor of the mill, 

 these effects are common. 



During a recent conversation in London with 

 Mr. William Ernes, M.KC. V.S., Dockhead, Ber- 

 mondsey, that gentleman stated a miller of his 

 acquaintance once fed largely upon bran. The 

 result was constant colic and irritation from cal- 

 culi. He was advised by Mr. Ernes to discon- 

 tinue the bran, or give a pure variety free from 

 dust, &c. ; the consequence was that since the 

 time, now some years ago, there have been no 

 further cases. Buyers of bran should insist upon 

 i'- being free from sweepings from the floor, &c. 

 Bran mashes are used for animals suffering under 

 acute fever to replace corn, which would aggravate 

 the complaint. They produce a softened state 



