22 ECONOMY OF FARxMING. 



stomach of the horse is in proportion smaller than in the ruminating animals, and 

 because in consequence of their natural eagerness to take all the means of nutri- 

 ment, the more voluminous and harder-digested materials of fodder have not time 

 for digestion. Hence it is that such fodder is little prepared, and goes off again as the 

 excrements show. Of the different materials of fodder, the preference is given to, — 



1. The Grains, because they are nutritious, easily digested, solid, and have a small 

 volume. Among these are highest, 



(a.) Oats, the sohd husk of which requires a stronger grinding, and which contain 

 httle a(ih;>-\ e substance, is therefore more easily digestible, and possesses a 

 pecuhar aiia acceptable taste. 



(b ) Beans, 



(c.) Vetches and lentils. Less usual are 



(d.) Barley, buckwheat, maize and rye. 



2. Hay, must be given with the richer grain-fodder to fill the stomach. Yet rarely 

 is the whole need of fodder obtained from hay, because the volume therein for nutri- 

 ment is too great for the stomach of the horse. To the voluminous materials of 

 fodder must be given at least a third part of fodder of the value of hay in less volu- 

 minous grains, or juicy plants. 



3. Since the nourishing power of straw is contained in a greater volume than in 

 hay, and it is also hard to dissolve, therefore, as contrary to the peculiarity of the 

 organs of digestion of the horse, it should rarely be given for the principal fodder, 

 but always as an auxiliary fodder, cut small (Hacksel) with hay. Where the grain 

 is good and the hay has not sufficient consistency, the straw Hacksel serves especially, 

 for establishing the requisite proportions of the solid and voluminous nutritious matter, 

 to the moist and more powerful with less volume. How hardly otherwise the horse 

 digests straw his excrements show, in which the straw Hacksel is very often found 

 unconsumed. Of the different straw, oat is best. 



4. The green fodder has opposed to it the disadvantage of the large volume-, the 

 want of consistency, and the long time which working horses need to take a sufii- 

 ciency for their nourishment. But as, if it consists of meadow grass and clover, it 

 belongs to the cheapest materials of fodder, therefore one employs Tvith tlie i?reatest 

 advantage f to f of the demand for nutriment of it with Hacksel, and makes^up the 

 remainder with cheap grains, and old hard-stalked hay. 



5. The root and knob-plants, have in common with the green fodder the peculi- 

 arity of too great wateriness, and the want of consistency, but prove a valuable aid 

 in the mixture of nourishing stuff of opposite qualities, and they can in a dry state 

 supply the place of the grains, and are cheaper. Their employment as fodder de- 

 serves therefore the notice of all. Carrots are the most useful and agreeable to 

 horses. Yellow Swedish turnips follow next, then beets, then white Swedish tur- 

 nips, then white turnips. Potatoes foddered green to horses are not so agreeable 

 on account of their sharp taste, as turnips, but in a dry state, and then coarse broken, 

 or soaked and mixed with Hacksel, &c.. they are very nutritious and acceptable. A 

 strong, sound horse, and kept daily at work, uses much fodder. Luzerne hay is three 

 times cheaper than oats, and one may give of it f , of turnips, mixture of grains, len- 

 tils, or maize ^, of the fodder needed in the worth of hay ; then the horse fodder 

 is not only suitable but also cheap, scarcely 20 kr. — 15 cts. per cwt. 



It follows from the above explanations, that the fodder for horses must be easily 

 digestible, not too voluminous, of proper consistency and made fine, that it must also 

 be masticated, so that it can be easily and soon swallowed and digested, and will 

 not fill the stomach too much. Accordingly the grain should be ground coarse, 

 hay and straw cut to Hacksel as fine as possible, roots and knobs made fine and 

 dried or moistened or baked. But the most successful digestible and powerful 

 fodder for the horse, is bread which is made out of meal of grains and potatoes, and 

 from bran baked, broken fine and fed out. If a person chooses for such a purpose 

 the cheaper grains, this species of food will be very cheap. The mixture of the dif- 

 ferent materials of food must be so made that the more solid shall stand in corres- 

 ponding relation with the moist, the juicy with the dry, and the more nutri- 

 tious with the less nutritious, so too that the better cannot be sucked out from 

 the less so, or the light be blown away from the heavier ; and so that especially the 

 cheapest possible fodder may be obtained by the mixture. 



According to the before determined quantity of fodder for the different domestic 

 animals on the farm, a horse of moderate strength with a live-weight of 11 cwt. must 

 have as his need of nutriment, i. e. conservation-fodder. 2} lbs. for every 100 lbs., 

 therefore in a day 30 lbs. worth of hay, and in a year 109.5 cwt. 



