PREPARATION OF FOOD, 205 



spare time, it is needless to cut their food, merely to save 

 their time. To give chaff for the purpose of insuring masti- 

 cation of the grain, is another affair ; all horses should have 

 sufficient for this purpose. 



Accurate Disinbution obtained. — Chaff is easily weighed 

 or measured. The allotted quantity can be served to within 

 an ounce. Hay also can be given quite as exactly, but it is 

 not so easy. The difference is so insignificant, and there 

 are so very few cases in which a very accurate distribution 

 of fodder is necessary, that it would be folly to cut it merely 

 for this purpose. 



The Mixture preferred. — It has been said, that after horses 

 have been accustomed to feeding on grain and chaff mixed, 

 they prefer it to oats or beans without chaff. This is untrue. 

 He who said it must have been misinformed. 



Objections to Chaff. — It has been urged that the cost of 

 converting the hay into chaff is greater than the grain ; that 

 some horses will not thrive without an allowance of rack fod- 

 der ; that the horse must be often fed, otherwise the chaff 

 will be wasted as much as hay. 



The first of these objections may have some truth in it, but 

 the assertion requires limitation. The cost of the cutting 

 machine is always spoken of as a great matter itself. It va- 

 ries in price from three to six or more pounds. In a small 

 establishment, containing, perhaps, twenty horses, the grain 

 that would be saved by mixing it with chaff, would soon pay 

 the cost of a small machine ; and as it is not necessary to 

 bruise the grain, the cost of that process is avoided. The 

 saving of grain, therefore, pays the machine, and the cost of 

 that article should not be included, except where only one or 

 two horses are kept. 



But to cut all the fodder may, in many cases, be too costly 

 a practice. Heavy draught-horses consume a great deal. 

 Some may be saved by cutting it, yet, perhaps, not sufficient 

 to pay the cost of cutting. Much depends upon the care of 

 the stablemen. If they will give the hay often, and in such 

 quantities that none will be wasted, there is no need to cut 

 more than enough to mingle with the grain. In such a case 

 it would be a loss to cut all the fodder. But such care can 

 not always be obtained. 



The cost of cutting may be calculated. If it be twenty 

 shillings per week, the owner has only to inquire whether 

 good hay to that amount be wasted. He can easily ascertain 

 how long a certain quantity serves a certain number of horses. 



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