HOUSES AND MULES 



331 



with chopped grass. The horses received 

 35 pounds of grass and 14 pounds ol' 

 molasses daily. Some of the molasses 

 was given as a drink diluted in water. 

 This ration was continued for 5 months, 

 and it was observed that at first the 

 horses lost weight, but later gained in a 

 satisfactory manner. The grass and mo- 

 lasses ration cost 15 cents a day as com- 

 pared with a hay and oat ration at 27 

 cents. In Porto Rico, as in various other 

 countries, the use of molasses appeared 

 to improve the appearance of the coat, 

 and any tendency to constipation was 

 readily checked by the use of bran. 



In Louisiana, Godchaux reports that 

 plantation owners have gradually 

 learned the value of black strap molas- 

 ses as a feed stuff for horses. This ma- 

 terial was previously of no value, but 

 at present it brings 5 cents a gallon as 

 a horse feed. The use of molasses with 

 a properly balanced ration, has gradual- 

 ly diminished the cost of feeding. Thus, 

 on a series of plantations, which used 

 240 horses and mules, the feed bill was 

 formerly $10,000, whereas it has now 

 been brought down to $2,500 per year. 

 Formerly as much as 18 pounds of oats 

 per day were used, where now the ra- 

 tion consists of 8 pounds of corn meal, 

 2 pounds cottonseed meal, 11 pounds of 

 molasses and 15 pounds of cowpea hay. 



Animal feeds_It has been found by 

 many feeders that animals which are 

 naturally herbivorous may not only take 

 kindly to considerable quantities of ani- 

 mal feed in their ration, but actually give 

 fine returns for it. Thus it has been 

 found that horses will, eat considerable 

 quantities of meat. In the siege of 

 Paris and under other similar circum- 

 stances, it is reported that horses ate 

 as high as 6 pounds of horse meat daily, 

 either cooked or raw, chopped fine and 

 mixed with other material. No bad ef- 

 fects were produced by such a ration 

 and the horses seemed to thrive well on 

 it. 



In addition to the miscellaneous feeds 

 already mentioned, a large number of 

 other materials are occasionally fed to 

 horses. Thus, the by-products obtained 

 in the manufacture of all kinds of 

 vegetable oils are used as feed for the 

 horse. The oil cakes, which have been 

 fed to horses, include linseed meal, cot- 

 tonseed meal, palm cake, sesame cake, 

 cocoanut oake and other materials" of 

 the same sort of less importance. Like- 

 wise in the manufacture of starch, va- 



rious by-products are obtained, nearly 

 all of which have been fed to horses. 

 The most important of these are the va- 

 rious gluten meals, and gluten feeds, 

 which are well known as having a high 

 feeding value. 



Similarly, all of the residues obtained 

 in brewing and distilling, have been 

 used. Attention has already been called 

 to the value of ordinary milling by- 

 products, such as bran, middlings and 

 shorts of various kinds of cereals, as 

 well as meal obtained from grinding 

 cottonseed cakes, linseed cakes, the by- 

 products obtained in the preparation of 

 rice for market, etc. Some of these 

 feeding stuffs are mentioned merely to 

 indicate that they may be used as horse 

 feed, but not to insist on their value 

 or importance. As a matter of fact, 

 many of the products just mentioned in 

 the list of miscellaneous feeds are of 

 quite subordinate importance on account 

 of the limited extent to which they are 

 produced or are available for horse feed. 

 With regard to condimental feeds for 

 horses, it may be said that the farmer 

 would do best to buy his drugs and 

 other substances, used as tonics, at 

 regular dealers and prepare his own 

 condimental feeds from them. The pro- 

 prietary feeds are altogether too expen- 

 sive. 



FATTENING HORSES 



In feeding horses for work or for 

 the market, the farmer often loses sight 

 of the fact that one of the primary pur- 

 poses of his feeding is to produce gain 

 in weight. Horse flesh is just as 

 valuable an asset to the farmer as beef. 

 It is a common practice in fattening 

 horses to give them hay in self-feeders 

 and grain four or five times a day. One 

 scheme which has been recommended as 

 very effective, consists in the following 

 practice : Ear corn at 5 A. M. ; water at 

 7 A. M. ; at 9 A. M. hay in the racks and 

 3 quarts of a mixture of one-third oats 

 and two-thirds bran; at noon, corn; at 

 3 P. M., oats, bran and hay; at 4 P. M., 

 water and at 6 P. M., corn. In this 

 scheme of feeding, 15 ears of corn are 

 fed to each horse during the day. The 

 preferred hay is a fine quality of clover, 

 free from dust. 



Another system of fattening horses 

 for market or putting flesh on old horses, 

 consists in feeding boiled barley, ground 

 corn and molasses. Each feed of this 

 mixture contains 3 pounds of boiled bar- 

 ley, 2 pounds of corn meal and linseed 



