PREPARATION OF FOOD. 20? 



chaff mixture is wasted, and the horses are cloyed, thrown off 

 their feed ; having corn always before them, they never ob- 

 tain a sharp appetite. 



Then, to sum up this matter, which seems to be very ill un- 

 derstood, it appears, 



That, where the stablemen are careful, waste of fodder is 

 diminished, though not prevented. 



That where the racks are good, careful stablemen may pre- 

 vent nearly all waste of fodder, without cutting it. 



That an accurate distribution of fodder is not a very impor- 

 tant object. 



That no horse seems to like his corn the better for being 

 mingled with chaff. 



That, among half-starved horses, chaff-cutting promotes the 

 consumption of damaged fodder. 



That full-fed horses, rather than eat the mixture of sound 

 and unsound, will reject the whole, or eat less than their work 

 demands. 



That chaff is more easily eaten than hay; that this is an 

 advantage to old horses, and others working all day ; a disad- 

 vantage when the horses stand long in the stable. 



That chaff ensures complete mastication and deliberate in- 

 gestion of the grain ; that it is of considerable and of most im- 

 portance in this respect ; that all the fodder need not be min- 

 gled with the grain, one pound of chaff being sufficient to in- 

 sure the mastication and slow ingestion of four pounds of grain. 



That the cost of cutting all the fodder, especially for heavy 

 horses, is repaid only where the hay is dear, and wasted in 

 large quantities. 



That, among hard-working horses, bad fodder should never 

 be cut.- 



Mixing. — When a number of articles having different prop- 

 erties are to be mingled together, some trouble must be taken 

 to mix them equally. I often see beans, barley, bran, and 

 chaff, thrown into a bucket hardly large enough to contain 

 them. An attempt is always made to stir them up and min- 

 gle one with another ; but either from the laziness of the man, 

 or from the want of proper utensils, the attempt frequently 

 fails. Hence some of the horses are fed on that which is too 

 rich, and they are surfeited, while others receive little but 

 chaff, and are starved. The mixing vessel ought to be large 

 enough to hold double the quantity ever put into it. 



The whole of each article ought not to be put in at once. 

 Suppose boiled beans, boiled barley, chaff, and roots, or bran, 



