TEAM. 



a cart mare and a blood horse are | 

 reared hy some spirited farmers, and 

 if they are more delicate and suscep- 

 tible of cold than the common cart- i 

 horses, they have many advantages : | 

 sometimes they inherit so much cour- j 

 age and vigour from their sire, that 

 they become valuable as carriage hor- 

 ses or hunters, and well repay the ex- 

 pense incurred in rearing them ; and, 

 at all events, they are superior to any 

 others for the work of the farm, and 

 are in general docile and tractable. 

 The only inconvenience arises from 

 their spirit. When any sudden ob- 

 struction arises in ploughing, such as 

 a considerable root of a tree or a large 

 stone, they make violent exertions, 

 and sometimes break the ploughs or 

 other implements. In this respect 

 oxen are more phlegmatic, and stop 

 when the collar presses on them ; so 

 that in breaking up rough commons 

 or newly-cleared woods oxen may be 

 preferred. This is almost the only 

 case where spirit and courage are not 

 an advantage. 



" With respect to the food of farm- 

 horses, as we observed before, a great 

 saving may be effected by a judicious 

 use of many vegetables and roots 

 which are easily raised on arable 

 land. Various modes of preparing 

 the food have been recommended, 

 such as steeping corn till it sprouts, 

 baking it into bread, or mixing it with 

 boiled roots. All these may have their 

 advantage where economy is the ob- 

 ject ; but, with the exception of baked 

 bread made of rye, barley, and oats, 

 and slightly leavened, which is per- 

 haps the best food which can be giv- 

 en to slow-wo king horses, there is 

 nothing so congenial to the healthy 

 stomach of a horse as good hay and 

 dry oats, or beans bruised in a mill 

 and mixed with cut chaff. They re- 

 quire no cooking to be fully digested, 

 and the digestive power of the horse 

 will extract all the nourishment which 

 they contain. But there are cheaper 

 fodders than hay and corn, especially 

 in summer, when they can be given 

 fresh and green. Tares, clover, lu- 

 cern, and sainfoin, cut as they are 

 wanted, will keep a horse in health 



and working condition with little or 

 no corn, and at a comparatively tri- 

 fling expense : carrots are peculiarly 

 relished by horses, and are very whole- 

 some ; and Swedish turnips, or ruta 

 baga, given raw in moderate quanti- 

 ties, make their skins shine, and thus 

 prove that they tend to keep them 

 in condition. Every prudent farmer 

 takes care to have a sufficient supply 

 of these cheaper substitutes for hay 

 and corn, keeping these last as a re- 

 serve and auxiliary to the former. In 

 a prize essay of the Highland and 

 Agricultural Society, on the compar- 

 ative advantages of raw and boiled 

 grain as food for farm horses, the 

 author adduces some experiments, 

 which lead to the conclusion that 

 there is no advantage in boiling grain, 

 but rather the contrary. The cost of 

 keep of a horse per day on different 

 food has been given as follows : 



10 lbs. of straw cut into chafT . . . Id. 

 10 lbs. of oats, at 3s. per bushel . . 9 

 16 lbs. of tuniips, at lOs. per tou . . 1 



E.xpense of culling ■ ij 



Is. Vhd. 



or. 



16 lbs. of hay, at 3s. 6d. per cwt. 

 5 lbs. of oats, at 3.5. per bushel . 

 16 lbs. of turnips, at Ws. per ton . 



6rf. 



4i 

 J_ 

 Hid. 



or, 



2S lbs. of steamed turnips .... 3W. 

 7 lbs. of coals, at Is. per bushel . . 1 



Expense of steajuing 4 



16 lbs. of straw, at H. per toa . . . _li 



Hd 



"This last appears the most eco- 

 nomical food, but steamed turnips 

 and straw only would probably not 

 keep a horse in good working condi- 

 tion, and it is not said how long the ex- 

 periment was continued, nor whether 

 the horses thus fed lost weight. The 

 food is also valued at a low rale. 



" It is evident that if farm horses 

 can be kept in condition fur G^d. a 

 day, which is not 4s. a week, while 

 on hay and oats, in the common mode 

 of feeding, they will cost more than 

 double that sum, the saving in a year 

 would amount to nearly £10 on each 

 horse ; and as every twenty-hve 

 acres of a farm of moderately light 

 land will require one horse for its 



787 



