Feeding. 97 



FOOD. 



The system of manger-feeding is becoming general 

 among farmers. There are few horses that do not 

 habitually waste a portion of their hay ; and by some 

 the greater part is pulled doA^n and trampled under 

 foot, in order iSrst to cull the sweetest and best locks, 

 and which could not be done while the hay was en- 

 closed in the rack. A good feeder will afterwards pick 

 up much of that which was thrown down ; but some 

 of it must be soiled and rendered disgusting, and, in 

 many cases, one-third of this division of their food is 

 wasted. Some of the oats and feed are imperfectly 

 chewed by all horses, and scarcely at all by hungry and 

 greedy ones. The appearance of the dung will suffi- 

 ciently evince this. 



The observation of this induced the adoption of 

 manger-feeding, or of mixing a portion of cut feed with 

 the grain. By this means the animal is compelled to 

 chew his food. He cannot, to any great degree, waste 

 the straw or hay ; the feed is too hard and too sharp 

 to be swallowed without sufficient mastication, and, 

 while he is forced to grind that down, the oats are 

 ground with it, and yield more nourishment ; the 

 stomach is more slowly filled, and therefore acts better 

 on its contents, and is not so likely to be overloaded ; 

 and the increased quantity of saliva thrown out in the 

 lengthened maceration of the food, softens it, and 

 makes it more fit for digestion. 



Many farmers very properly grind the oats or corn. 

 The whole oat is apt to slip out of the feed and be lost ; 

 but when it is bruised, and especially if the feed is a 

 little wetted, it will not readily separate ; or, should a 



