PRACTICE OF FEEDING. 247 



better, indeed quite well, when he is properly worked and 

 properly fed. The humors are blamed. According to the 

 groom there is some bad humor flying about the horse. He 

 gives his drugs to sweeten the blood, puts in rowels to drain 

 off impurities, and plays numberless other tricks, such as 

 ignorance alone could suggest. Little, in truth, is required 

 but to get rid of that which plethora has already produced, 

 and subsequently to give regularity to the work and to the 

 feeding, and to proportion the one to the other. 



PRACTICE OF FEEDING. 



In well-managed stables the practice of feeding is regula- 

 ted by the principles, so far, at least, as they are understood. 

 Nevertheless it may be useful to give a short account of the 

 matters and modes of feeding in reference to different kinds 

 of horses. I shall here state the general mode, so far as 1 

 have been able to learn it, and give a few examples. 



The Farm-Horse is fed on oats, meal-seeds, corn-dust, 

 barley-dust, beans, barley, hay, roots, straw, and grass. The 

 grain is given raw and boiled, whole, bruised, or ground, and 

 with or without a masticant.* Wheat is seldom used, beans 

 only when the work is very laborious, and bran rarely except 

 to sick horses. The fodder varies with the work and the 

 season. In winter it consists of hay, and the different kinds 

 of straw, including that of beans and peas. The quantity is 

 unlimited, and it is rarely cut into chaff. Rye-grass, clover 

 and tares, are given while they are in season, to the exclusion 

 of other fodder. They are given in the stable or in the field, 

 and some horses are partly soiled and partly pastured. The 

 quantity of grain varies with the work and the size of the 

 horse. From fourteen to sixteen pounds is considered a 

 liberal allowance for a large horse in full work. The night 

 feed is vsually boiled so soon as grass fails. The quantity 

 diminishes as the days shorten. In some places the grain is 

 altogether withheld during a part of the winter, fodder being 

 given in the day, and some boiled roots at night. 



Some farmers never give more than ten pounds of grain 

 per day. It is not possible to state the proper allowance. In 

 all cases the horse himself soon tells whether he is getting 

 too much or too little. He should be kept rather above than 



* Masticant. — Any article — such as cut fodder, bran-chaff, hay-seeds, 01 

 meal-seeds — which ensures mastication of the grain with which it js min- 

 gled. 



