50 HORSE MANAGEMENT IN INDIA. 



In the foregoing table, the analysis of oats is that of 

 good English corn, which, I may say, does not contain 

 more than half the proportion of woody fibre found in 

 the Indian variety. 



Owing to the indigestibility of bran, its nutritive 

 value is not in accordance with its chemical composi- 

 tion. This want of agreement is also apparent in other 

 foods, notably in wheat and potatoes. The portions of 

 bran which cannot be digested serve a useful purpose 

 in giving bulk to the food, and in stimulating the 

 digestive canal by the slight mechanical irritation 

 which its presence causes. 



The nitrogenous matters contain from 15*4 to 16 '5 

 per cent, of nitrogen (Parkes). 



Nitrogenous Food. The natural waste of nitro- 

 genous tissue is accelerated by exertion, though to a 

 far smaller extent than is that of fat. From the 

 analysis of the urine of men, taken while they were 

 undergoing violent exertion, it was observed that there 

 was but a small increase in the waste of nitrogenous 

 products, which, as before remarked, are excreted by 

 the kidneys. Experience, however, demonstrates the 

 necessity, in such cases, of an adequate supply of 

 nitrogen, as may be seen by the good results obtained 

 from the addition to oats of beans in England or of 

 gram, or kulthee in India especially, when, from old 

 age, or illness, the horse's powers of assimilation were 

 diminished. Such a diet, however, should be carefully 

 regulated, for an over-supply is apt to upset the animal's 

 digestion, and to poison his blood by causing it to 

 become filled with an excess of deleterious nitrogenous 

 products, which the excretory organs will be unable to 



