210 STABLE ECONOMY. 



Grinding the grain has been recommended for facilitating 

 its digestion ; but whether it be more rapidly digested, 01 

 whether it be right to make it so, is yet unknown. When 

 ground grain is given without admixture, the horse appears to 

 have some difficulty in managing it. The meal requires 

 much saliva, but very little mastication. The secretion of 

 saliva is stimulated, and its supply regulated by the act of 

 mastication. Hence the food that requires the most moisture, 

 should also require the most mastication. With ground grain 

 this order is reversed, the horse fills his mouth with flour too 

 dry to swallow, and too fine to produce saLva. He always 

 requires more time to consume a pound of oatmeal than a 

 pound of oats ; and many will not, or can not eat a whole 

 feed of it. When put into the manger in a heap, the broken 

 husks run down the sides and accumulate ; the portion having 

 most of the husk is eaten before the flour ; this shows which 

 the horse likes best. Flour or meal, however, is a useful ad- 

 dition to boiled food ; and when given with chaff it may be 

 better than alone. 



Grinding, I believe, is always performed at the meal-mills. 

 When the grain is soft or new, it is previously dried or baked. 

 The husks are not separated from the meal. 



Germinating. — In this process the grain is steeped in 

 water for twelve or twenty-four hours, and afterward exposed 

 to the air til 1 it begins to sprout, when it is ready for use. In 

 the stable this preparation is termed " malting." Barley and 

 oats are occasionally submitted to the process. Other kinds 

 of grain, and perhaps pulse, may be thus treated, but I have 

 not heard of any experiments upon them. 



The time required for producing germination varies in dif- 

 ferent kinds of grain ; and it is influenced by the degree of 

 heat, the quantity of moisture, and the -access of light. The 

 steeped seed is usually spread upon the floor of a warm and 

 dark apartment ; the layer should not exceed an inch thick, 

 and it should occasionally be turned over. The grain swells, 

 becomes warm, bursts, and springs ; it is fermenting ; in this 

 state it is given to the horse. When germination in barley is 

 checked by a dry heat, the grain is fully malted ; but malt is 

 not employed as an article of food for horses. The heavy 

 duty forbids its use, and I do not know that it is wanted. 

 When merely sprouted, it is said to be much relished by 

 horses of defective appetite, and useful to those recovering 

 from sickness. It is supposed to be more easily digested, and 

 less inflammatory than the ra'v grain. 



