ARTICLES USED AS FOOD. 181 



beans, peas, and wheat, are partial si]b5=titutes for oats. They 

 may form a large portion of the p^rain ; and in Spain barley 

 forms the whole of it. But in this country oats are in general 

 as cheap as any of the other kinds of grain. It has been 

 alleged that oats contain some aromatic, invigorating properly, 

 not possessed by other articles ; and it does appear that horses 

 fed on roots to the exclusion of grain, are not so gay as grain- 

 fed horses. But whether oats, in equal weight, give the 

 liorse more animation than other kinds of grain, is not known 

 with certainty, although common opinion is in their favor. 



Oat-Dust is a dirty, brown, useless-like powder, removed 

 from the oat in converting it into meal. It is sometimes 

 mixed with the boiled food. It does not appear to contain 

 any nutriment ; and it is blamed for producing balls in the 

 bowels and obstructing them. 



Oai-Mcal. Setul.s. — 'I'he husk of the oat, as it is sifted from 

 the meal, is sometimes given to horses. This stud' is termed 

 seeds. It always contains a little meal ; but is often adul- 

 terated by adding what are called the sheeling seeds, the husk 

 without any meal. It does very well as a masticant ; and 

 may be mingled with oats, beans, or barley, to make the 

 horse grind them, but it can not yield much nutriment, and 

 many horses will not eat it. 



Gruel is made from oat-meal. It is very useful for sick 

 horses : and after a day of severe exertion, when the horse 

 will not take solid food, gruel is the best thing he can have. 

 Few stablemen are able to make it properly. The meal is 

 never sufficiently incorporated with the water. One gallon 

 of good gruel may be made from a pound of meal, which 

 should be thrown into cold water, set on the fire and stirred 

 till boiling, and afterward permitted to simmer over a gentle 

 fire till the water is quite thick. It is not gruel at all if the 

 meal subside and leave the water transparent. Bracy Clark 

 recommends that the meal be well triturated with a little 

 cold water, in a beeehen bowl, by a heavy wooden pestle. He 

 thinks the trituration necessary to effect a union between the 

 walei and some constituent of the meal. This seems to be 

 one of the " not a few useful and important discoveries" for 

 which Mr. Clarke so clamorously demands our homage. 



0(1 (en Bread is sometimes given to sick horses. It may 

 tempt the appetite and excite a disposition to feed. — See 

 Bread. 



Barley. — There is much diflerence of opinion concerning 

 this article. Some consider it quite as good as oats ia ievery 



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