MIXING HOMINY AND OATS. 253 



The feed room must be kept strictly under lock and key, 

 and the boys never suffered to measure the feed. The 

 foreman will give them the amount each horse is to have ; 

 and if I had not full confidence in his attending to this 

 part of his duty, I should carry the key myself, even if it 

 necessitated my attendance at the stable for every feed. 

 Grooms becoming attached to the horses they are taking- 

 care of, are very apt to feed them more than they are told, 

 and this mistaken kindness I have known followed by 

 serious consequences. I will not detain you any longer 

 from driving ; by the time you get through, the horses 

 will have to go out for their walk. 



PUPIL. The young things are done with. When driv- 

 ing I was cogitating over your manner of feeding, and am 

 anxious to learn why you prefer mixing the hominy and 

 oats together, and why you increase the proportion of 

 hominy as the horses take sharper work. 



PEECEPTOE. We have hardly time now to discuss the 

 effects of the different kinds of grain on the health of the 

 horse. It is a matter I have thought a great deal about, 

 yet I cannot natter myself that I am capable of throwing 

 much light on the subject. Oats are said to be the natu- 

 ral food of the horse. Why they are claimed to be their 

 natural aliment would be difficult to tell. If the horse 

 originated in the East, as is generally believed, he must 

 have been dieted on something else, as oats were not 

 grown there at all. Oats have the thickest husk of any of 

 the cereals with which I am acquainted, there being only 

 eight pounds of flour to fourteen of grain, while there are 

 twelve of barley and thirteen of wheat in the same quan- 

 tity. Corn has still less bran, and if a horse were confined 

 to any one of these grains in a whole state, the greater 

 bulk of oats to their weight might make them easier of 

 digestion. 



But I will give you some of the reasons why I mix oats 



