168 STABLE ECONOMY. 



corner of each field, to supply the want of pasturage and 

 other food. These are chopped small, and mixed with com- 

 mon salt, or sprinkled with a solution of molasses. Maize 

 is sometimes made into hay. " When Guinea or Indian corn 

 is planted in May, and cut in July, in order to bear seed that 

 year, that cutting properly tended, makes an excellent hay, 

 which cattle prefer to meadow hay. In like manner, after 

 the corn has done bearing seed, the after crop furnishes abun- 

 dance of that kind of fodder which keeps well in ricks for 

 two or three years."* " In some places dried ferns, reeds, 

 flags, small branches, or twigs, are dried and used as substi- 

 tutes for hay."t Doubtless there are many other plants made 

 into fodder in different parts of the world. Where Canary 

 corn is raised, the chaff and straw are given to horses, from 

 which it is said they derive more nutriment than from hay. 



Hay. — In Scotland, most of the hay used for horses is 

 composed of ryegrass, or ryegrass and clover. The natural 

 hay, which is not very much used here, contains several 

 plants. Much of the hay in Scotland is bad. A good deal 

 is grown on poor land, and this is soft, dwarfish, and desti- 

 tute of nutriment. But hay in general is not well made. In 

 the south it is cured with more skill, and preserved with more 

 care. The best we have in the west of Scotland is procured 

 from Stirlingshire, and is composed of ryegrass and a little 

 clover. 



In England clover-hay stands in high repute for hard-work- 

 ing draught horses. In the market it brings 20 per cent, more 

 than meadow or ryegrass hay. Hard upland meadow hay is 

 preferred for hunters and racers, because, I suppose, they are 

 apt to eat too much of the clover. In Scotland, ryegrass, or 

 a mixture of ryegrass and clover, is considered the best for 

 all horses. Here we have almost no good meadow hay, and 

 most of that made from the natural grasses is hardly worth 

 preserving. 



Good Hay is about a year old, long and large, hard, tough ; 

 its color inclining to green, rather than to white ; it has a 

 sweet taste and pleasant smell ; the seed is abundant ; in- 

 fused in hot water, it produces a rich dark-colored tea. The 

 less dust it has about it the better ; but, from the soil, and the 

 way in which hay is made here, it is seldom free from dust. 

 In damp weather hay absorbs much moisture, and weighs a 

 a good deal the heavier. In England, the market weight of 



* Bracy Clark's PliarmacopcEia Equina, 

 t Blaine's Outlines of Vet. Mfd. 



