ARTICLES USED 4S FOOD. 189 



them split or broken, or moisten them, and sprinkle a little 

 oatmeal over them, sufficient to make the beans white. If he 

 still demur, put another horse, a hungry one, beside him, and 

 he will soon teach his ignorant neighbor ; if he do not, I can 

 not tell what will. 



Bean meal, or flour, is sometimes added to the boiled food ; 

 Lut it is oftener given in the water to cure the staling-evil. 



Peas are seldom used without beans, with which they are 

 mixed in large or small quantities. They may be given 

 without either beans or other grain, but much care is neces- 

 sary to inure the horse to them. Peas seem to be very in- 

 digestible, more so than beans, and perhaps as much so as 

 wheat ; but when given very sparingly at first, they may be 

 used with perfect safety. It is often said that peas swell so 

 much in the stomach as to burst it. This is an error. Peas 

 do absorb much water, and swell more perhaps than beans, 

 but they never swell so much as to burst the stomach, for the 

 horse can not or will not eat such a large quantity. When 

 the stomach is burst, it is from fermentation, not from swel- 

 ling of the peas. All kinds of food will produce the same 

 result when the horse is permitted to gorge himself, or when 

 he is fed in full measure upon food that he has not been ac- 

 customed to ; but peas seem to be rather more apt to ferment 

 than some other kinds of grain. 



Peas should be sound, and a year old. They weigh, on 

 an average, sixty-four pounds per bushel. Pea-meal is 

 sometimes given in the same way, and for the same purposes 

 as that of the bean. Some prefer it for diabetes, and in a 

 few places it is given in the water for baiting on the road. 



Vetch Seed has been employed for feeding horses, but I 

 have learned nothing of the result. 



Bread. — In former times it was customary to feed horses 

 with bread, and the statute book is said to contain several 

 acts of parliament relating to the manner of making it. Ger- 

 vase Markham, a very old author, says, " Horse bread which 

 is made of clean beans, clean peas, or clean fitches, feedeth 

 exceedingly." It is not many years since a bread, com- 

 posed of wheat, oats, barley, and beans, ground and mixed in 

 varying proportions, was used in the racing-stables. The 

 bread was well baked, and given when sufficiently old to 

 crumble down and mingle with the grain. Eggs and some 

 spices wiere sometimes introduced in making it. Nothing of 

 the kind, so far as I know, is now used in this country. 



In different parts of Europe bread forms the customary 



