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AMERICAN STABLE GUIDE. 



they weigli less than thirty-two pounds, and an increase in 

 price is usually demanded by the seller for any excess. 



Viewing oats as a feed in all their excellencies, we can- 

 not be convinced but that they are an extravagant and 

 very expensive feed, unless we could believe that light or 

 poor oats are as good for horse feed as those which are 

 heavy and plump. 



European or Nova Scotian oats all seem to be fed alike — 

 light or heavy, eight, ten, or twelve quarts — no allowance 

 being made for their weight, and not unfrequently, also, 

 without regard to the age, constitution, or work required 

 of the animal. Horses thus treated cannot but be impro- 

 perly fed — either too much or too little — forming thus the 

 basis of disease of an exalted type when fed with heavy, 

 and of a depressed kind when fed with light and poor oats. 



We are well aware that we are laying siege to the 

 citadel of constituted opinion, when the value of oats for 

 feeding horses is called in question; but what can be 

 said when we tell horsemen that no two samples of oats, 

 even when of equal weight per bushel, will give the same 

 analysis, nor contain the same amount of nutrition. In 

 addition to this, we have a great variety of oats, all differ- 

 ing in value as a feed. Thus we have the common oat, 

 the White, Poland, Early Angus, Hopetoun, Cumberland 

 early, Tartarian, Potato, Sandy, Georgian, and many other 

 kinds too numerous to mention. The weight and proper- 

 ties of each depend not so much on the variety as upon 

 the season, climate and soil on which they are grown. 



