42 LOCUST — WATER. 



it will heat, become sour, and quickly harden into a solid mass. 

 It is not a form of diet to be recommended without qualification. 

 Locust. — Locust is a new article of provender, and one not 

 generally known. It is a vegetable imported, I understand, 

 from the Levant. It is of a dark red brown colour, and in form 

 closely resembles the pod of the common broad bean, which is 

 cultivated in our fields and gardens. It may be procured from 

 the retail dealer in a very dry state. It is exceedingly sweet, 

 such sweetness arising from the presence of sugar within its 

 fibrous tissues. It is stated that the pod contains more than 

 fifty per cent, of saccharine matter ; the sugar in fact can be 

 seen in a crystalized state within the cells of the pod. Before 

 using it, the pod must either be ground into a coarse kind of 

 meal or broken into fragments, and afterwards steeped for some 

 hours in water. Without the adoption of one or other of 

 these methods, the pod, however much broken, will be found 

 too hard and dry for eating. The effects of locust, when 

 liberally given to a lean horse are surprising. It speedily 

 fattens the animal, and produces that which grooms so much 

 desire, viz., a fine soft glossy coat. When this food is first given 

 to horses they generally manifest a repugnance to it, but soon 

 look for the accustomed allowance, and devour it with avidity 

 and relish. The proper quantity to administer for a feed will 

 depend upon circumstances. If in a ground state, a pint of the 

 article will be sufficient. If broken and macerated in water, 

 from three pints to two quarts of the mash may be allowed, 

 according to the size of the horse. The feed may be repeated 

 three or four times a day. It may either be given alone, or 

 mixed with any other kind of provender. 



Watee. — Water is an article of diet, as necessary to the 

 health of the body as oxygen is to the blood. Of all tlie 

 articles of diet enumerated as necessary to a horse, perhaps the 



