170 STABLE ECONOMY. 



hay will change the horse's appearance and condition in 

 two days, when he has an unlimited quantity of corn. By 

 bad hay I mean that which is unwholesome. It may be 

 poor, having little nutriment, but sweet and digestible, with- 

 out being pernicious. But good straw is better than un- 

 wholesome hay for all kinds of horses. The kidneys are 

 excited to extraordinary activity. The urine, which, in this 

 disease, is always perfectly transparent, is discharged very 

 frequently and in copious profusion. The horse soon becomes 

 hidebound, emaciated, and feeble. His thirst is excessive. 

 He never refuses water, and he drinks it as if he would never 

 give over. The disease does not produce death, but it ren- 

 ders the horse useless, and ruins the constitution. Should 

 he catch cold, or take the influenza, which prevailed so much 

 in Glasgow during the winter of 1836, glanders is seldom far 

 off.* This worthless hay is always sold at a lower rate, and 

 much of it enters the coaching-stables, but I am perfectly 

 sure that it would be cheaper to pay the highest price for the 

 best. One ton of good hay will, unless the men be exces- 

 sively careless, go as far as two tons of that which is bad. 

 To slow-work horses, mowburnt hay may be given with less 

 detriment, but it is less unprofitable when consumed by cattle. 



Musty Hay is known by its bad color, its unpleasant 

 smell, and bitter taste. It is soft and coated with fungi. Like 

 all other hay, its smell is most distinct when slightly damped 

 by breathing upon it. Old hay is often musty, without having 

 been heated. None but a hungry horse will eat it, and when 

 eaten in considerable quantity it is said to be " bad for the 

 wind." In truth, it is bad for every part of the body. In 

 some places they sprinkle this musty hay with a solution of 

 salt, which induces the horse to eat it ; but even thus it an- 

 swers better for bedding than for feeding, and to that purpose 

 the horse applies the most of it. 



Weather-beaten Hay is that which has lain in the sward 

 exposed to the rain and the sun. It is musty, full of dust, 

 sapless, bleached, or blackened, and destitute of seed. Such, 

 also, is the state of that which has stood too long uncut. All 

 hay should be cut a iew days before the seed is quite ripe. 

 After it has lost most of its seed, and its juices, little is left 

 to afford nutriment. 



* The influenza I mean, was not at all similar to a disease which went 

 under the same name at the same time in England. We had almost none 

 of the English influenza till the last week of May. 1S37. In the month of 

 June it^ was very prevalent. ' 



