FOOD. 357 



or the'condensation of the most important part of his work in Sir Hum- 

 phry^ Davy's Agricultural Chemistry, are well deserving of the dihgent 

 perusal of the farmer. 



Were there not too many proofs that the very refuse of the farm is 

 often devoted to the keep of the agricultural horse, it would be needless 

 to repeat that the animal that works constantly and hard should have 

 the bdSt food, and plenty of it. Old hay, as having longer^ undergone 

 that slow process of fermentation by which the sugar that it contains is 

 developed, is far more nutritive and wholesome than new hay. Mowhiirnt 

 hay is more injurious to horses than to any other of the domestic animals, 

 and is a fruitful source of disease. 



Where the manger system of feeding is not adopted, or where hay is 

 still given at night, and chaff and corn in the day, there is no error into 

 which the farmer is so apt to fall as to give an undue quantity of hay, 

 and that generally of the worst kind. If the manger system is good, there 

 can be no necessity for hay, or only for a small quantity of it ; but if the rack 

 is overloaded, the greedy horse will be eating all night, instead of taking his 

 rest ; and when the time for the morning feed arrives, his stomach will_be 

 already filled, and he will be less capable of work, from the want of sleep, 

 and from the long-continued distention of the stomach rendering it im- 

 possible for the food to be properly digested. 



It is a good practice to sprinkle the hay with water in which salt has 

 been dissolved. It is evidently more palatable to the animal, who will 

 have the best unsalted hay for that of an inferior quality that has been 

 moistened with brine ; and there can be no doubt that the salt very ma- 

 terially assists the process of digestion. The preferable way of salting the 

 hay would be to sprinkle it over the different layers as the rick is formed. 

 From its attraction for water, it would combine with that excess of 

 moisture which, in wet seasons, is the cause of too rapid and violent 

 fermentation, and of the hay becoming movvburnt, or the rick sometimes 

 catching fire, and it would become more incorporated with the hay. The 

 only objection to its being thus used is, that the colour of the hay is not 

 so bright; but this would be of little consequence for home consumption. 



Of the value of Tares, as forming a portion of the late spring and 

 summer food of the stabled and agricultural horse, there can be no doubt. 

 They are very nutritive, and they act as a kind of medicine. When 

 surfeit-lumps appear on the skin, and the horse begins to rub himself 

 against the divisions of the stall, and the legs swell, and the heels threaten 

 to crack, [a few tares, cut up with the chaff, or given instead of a portion 

 of the hay, will often afford immediate and perfect relief Ten or twelve 

 pounds may be given daily, and half that weight of hay subtracted. It 

 is an erroneous notion, that, given in moderate quantities, they either 

 roughen the coat or lessen the capability for hard work. 



Rye Grass affords a valuable article of food, but is inferior to the tare. 

 It is not so nutritive ; it is apt to scour ; and occasionally, and late in the 

 spring, it has appeared to become injurious to the horse. 



Clover, for soiling the horse, is inferior to the tare and the rj'e grass, 

 but, nevertheless, is useful when they cannot be obtained. Clover hay is, 

 perhaps, preferable to meadow hay for chaff; it will sometimes tempt the 

 sick horse, and may be given with advantage to those of slow and heavy 

 work ; but custom seems properly to have forbidden it to the hunter and 

 the hackney. 



Lucern, where it can be obtained, is preferable even to tares, and 

 SAINT-FOIN is superior to lucern. Although they contain but a small 

 quantity of nutritive matter, that is easily digested, and perfectly assimi- 



