216 STABLE ECONOMY. 



a distance from the steam-tub. They are not easily attended 

 when closely connected. Sometimes the tub is adjusted to 

 the rim of an ordinary boiler, and this is the simplest of all 

 methods, but inconvenient when there is much to be cooked. 

 Sometimes a steaming-tub is employed for each horse ; it is 

 just like a stable-pail. Several are arranged in a row, and 

 each has a branch-tube from the steam-pipe. Complication 

 and expense attend this method, without any adequate advan • 

 tage. 



Baking. — Potatoes are the only article to which this pro- 

 cess has been applied. I have not seen any detailed account 

 of the practice, nor has it come under my own observation. 

 There is some notice of it in the fourth volume of Communi- 

 cations to the Board of Agriculture. 



Seasoning. — The custom of seasoning the horse's food is 

 of recent origin, and, as yet, it is not general. Stablemen 

 have indeed, from time immemorial, been in the habit of mix- 

 ing nitre with all boiled food, and occasionally with the raw. 

 but this is not what I mean by seasoning. Nitre, or salt- 

 petre, as it is commonly called, does not render the food 

 more palatable, nor aid its digestion, nor is_ it given for such 

 purposes. 



Salt is the only article employed in this country. In Jndia, 

 and perhaps in other places, the horse receives, at certain 

 times, a dose of pepper, or some other stimulating and ar- 

 omatic spice ; and in hot countries, such things may be use- 

 ful, as to a certain extent, they are in this. 



There are two modes of giving salt, and a kind of salt for 

 each mode. Some give one or two ounces of common table- 

 salt, every night, along with the boiled food, with which it is 

 well mixed ; others give six or eight ounces at a time, and 

 only once a week, generally on Saturday night, if the horses 

 be idle all Sunday. By the former mode it is said to promote 

 digestion, and to render the food more palatable ; by the latter 

 it relaxes the bowels, and increases the flow of urine. In 

 both cases the salt excites considerable thirst, especially at 

 first, before the horse becomes accustomed to it. When 

 given only once a week, he never becomes accustomed to it. 

 The same effects are produced every time the salt is given. 



I have no reason to approve much of either of these modes. 

 Fast-working horses, either from the laxative property of the 

 salt, or from the quantity of water which it makes them drink, 

 are very apt to purge, and to sweat easily and copiously. 

 Some horses, too, are not partial to salt, at least they do not 



