DELICATE EEEDEES. 73 



The oats should also be old, well fed, perfectly sweet, and 

 not kiln-dried. 



The gruel should be made of the best and sweetest, newly 

 ground oatmeal, and prepared in every respect with the greatest 

 care. Do not imagine, because it is gruel for a horse, that 

 therefore, any kind of sloppy preparation will answer the 

 purpose. Properly to prepare gruel, is a matter which requires 

 a degree of skill not possessed by every one. It should be 

 made as though intended for an invalid. Let every one who 

 may seek to become a groom, learn from a well trained cook 

 how to make gruel. If I required a groom, to superintend a 

 stud of hunters, I scarcely know a better test \^ereby to judge 

 of the fitness of an applicant, than setting him to make a bucket 

 of gruel. 



Delicate Eeedees. — It is impossible to lay down any 

 positive rule as to how delicate feeders are to be treated. 

 They require to be watched with the nicest care ; choice morsels 

 of food must be repeatedly presented to them ; sometimes a 

 carrot, — or a mouthful or two of dry corn, — or a little boiled 

 corn, — sometimes a cake of rye or wheaten bread, will be eaten 

 'with great relish, — occasionally a little malt is preferred, and 

 in many instances a mixture composed of equal parts of new 

 milk, and oatmeal gruel, with the addition of a little salt, will 

 be taken with avidity when every other kind of food is refused. 

 Nux Vomica, and Muriatic Acid, will frequently prove of value 

 in these cases ; one or other of which may be given alone, or 

 in alternation as may be required. Use the Nux Vomica, 

 of the first dilution, in drachm doses, mixed with six ounces 

 of water, and repeat the dose night and morning, for two or 

 three days in succession ; or if used in alternation with the acid, 

 the former in a morning, and the latter (eight or ten drops for 

 a dose, in half a pint of cold water) every night, for a like period. 



