30 HORSES AND HOUNDS. 



form, the stomach is not distended. The hay should be of the 

 very best quality, from upland pastures, and at least a year old. 

 Clover hay, although the best for fattening cattle, will not do 

 for horses to work upon, being of what is called a foggy nature, 

 and decidedly bad for the wind. Saintfoin, cut when in full 

 blossom, is less objectionable, and the most hearty of all artifi- 

 cial grasses ; it may do for draught horses, but it will not do for 

 hunters when in work. Oats should be old, and of the heaviest 

 kind ; many prefer black to white ; the difference is little, if 

 any, as to strength ; weight in the bushel is the best criterion 

 to judge corn by. Select good oats, above 40 lb. the bushel, 

 well cleansed from grist and dirt, and which have not been 

 heated on the kiln. The potato kind are generally the heaviest, 

 and I have known these weigh 47 lb. In the autumn, when 

 horses are shedding their coats, a few old beans are necessary ; 

 but at other times they should be given very sparingly. 



In most modern-built stables, the old-fashioned hayloft has 

 been dispensed with, which was generally a receptacle for dust, 

 cobwebs, and the filth of rats, mice, and cats. If the hay could 

 be cut fresh from the mow every day, it would be better, as, by 

 exposure, it loses much of its aroma and freshness. At any rate, 

 a hay-chamber will be a necessary appendage to a hunting esta- 

 blishment, where it should remain in trusses until wanted ; but 

 by the use of a light cart and pony, or donkey, the hay-chamber 

 might be dispensed with entirely, and the hay brought in every 

 morning fresh from the rick, if situated at some distance from 

 the stables. There is a great difference in the quality of hay, 

 and it requires some judgment to select a rick fit for hunters in 

 the season. Hay that has been washed by rain is quite unfit ; 

 as is also that which has been mowburnt or over-heated ; but 

 hay, to be good, requires a certain degree of fermentation or 

 heat. If the rick is hollow, so that you can thrust your arm 

 into it nearly up to the shoulder, it is a proof that the hay has 

 not been sufficiently heated. You may also judge by the truss, 

 which should be close, firm, and heavy. Hay, for hunters, 

 should be cut early, before the grasses run to seed — by the first 

 or second week of June at latest — whilst the juices are at the 

 full flow. 



Hay should be made by hand, and not by the agency of the 

 hay-making machine, which, although of great service to farmers 

 in some seasons, when hands are scarce, yet scatters abroad the 

 leaves and blossoms of the finer kinds of grasses and small 

 clover, which abounds in all good pasturages. In hay for 

 hunters or racehorses, the two extremes must be carefully 

 avoided— over-fermentation, producing mowburning ; or under- 



