174 STABLE ECONOMY. 



Seymour, at Paris, last March twelvemonth, that his race- 

 horses, then of course doino: good work, were eating nothing 

 but wheaten straw and grain." — P. 514. 



It need not be supposed, from what Nimrod or any other 

 body says, that straw is, in any respect, better for horses than 

 good hay. When straw is given instead of hay, the allow- 

 ance of grain must be enlarged, and it will depend upon the 

 relative cost of all the three, which of them should be given. 

 It is not every horse, however, that will eat straw. 



Bean-straw is tough and woody, and horses soon get tired 

 of it. But I am persuaded that it might be advantageously 

 made into tea. Bean-straw tea is much esteemed as a drink for 

 milch-cows, and if not found equally good for horses, no harm 

 can be done by trying it. Pea-straw also makes very good 

 tea, but the straw itself can be entirely consumed as fodder. 

 The white straws seem to make a very weak infusion. All 

 the kinds ^of straw soon grow sapless and brittle. They 

 should be fresh. 



Barn Chaff. — The shell which is separated from wheat 

 and oats in thrashing is often given to farm-horses. It seems 

 to be very poor stuff. It looks as if it contained no nutriment, 

 yet it may serve to divide the grain, to make the horse masti- 

 cate it, and to prevent him from swallowing it too hurriedly. 

 In this way it may so far supply the place of cut fodder. But 

 the barn chaff is usually mingled with the boiled food, and if 

 the articles be very soft, the chaff may give them consistence, 

 but it does little more. The coving chafi* of beans is said to 

 form a very good manger food. 



Roots. — Potatoes, carrots, and turnips, are the roots chiefly 

 used for feeding horses. Parsnips, sugar beet, mangel-wur- 

 zel, and yams, are occasionally employed. 



Potatoes are given both raw and boiled ; in either state 

 they are much relished by all horses as a change from other 

 food. They are rather laxative than otherwise, and especially 

 when given uncooked. Given raw and inconsiderable quan- 

 tity to a horse not accustomed to them, they are almost sure 

 to produce indigestion and colic ; when boiled or steamed 

 they are less apt to ferment in the stomach. For horses that 

 do slow, and perhaps not very hard, or long-continued work, 

 potatoes may, in a great measure, or entirely, supersede grain. 

 They are little used for fast-work horses, yet they may be 

 given, and sometimes they are given, without any harm. On 

 many farms they form, along with straw fodder, the whole of 

 the horse's winter food. In Essex, farm-horses have been 



