FOOD. 467 



gallon of water, and kept constantly stirred until it boils, and five minutes 

 afterwards. 



White-water, made by stining a pint of oatmeal in a pail of water, the 

 chill being taken from it, is an excellent beverage for the thirsty and tired horse. ' 



Barley is a common food of the horse on various parts of the Continent, and, 

 until the introduction of the oat, seems to have constituted almost his only food! 

 It is more nutritious than oats, containing nine hundred and twenty parts of 

 nutritive matter in every thousand. There seems, however, to be something 

 necessary besides a great proportion of nutritive matter, in order to render any 

 substance wholesome, strengthening, or fattening ; therefore it is that, in many 

 horses that are hardly worked, and, indeed, in horses generally, barley does not 

 agree with them so well as oats. They are occasionally subject to inflammatory 

 complaints, and particularly to surfeit and mange. 



When barley is given, the quantity should not exceed a peck daily. It 

 should always be bruised, and the chaff should consist of equal quantities of hay 

 and barley-straw, and not cut too short. If the farmer has a quantity of 

 spotted or unsaleable barley that he wishes thus to get rid of, he must very 

 gradually accustom his horses to it, or he will probably produce serious illness 

 among them. For horses that are recovering from illness, barley, in the form 

 of malt, is often serviceable, as tempting the appetite and recruiting the 

 strength. It is best given in mashes — water, considerably below the boiling 

 heat, being poured upon it, and the vessel or pail kept covered for half an hour. 



Grains fresh from the mash-tub, either alone, or mixed with oats or chaff, or 

 both, may be occasionally given to horses of slow draught; they would, 

 however, afford very insufficient nourishment for horses of quicker or harder 

 work. 



Wheat is, in Great Britain, more rarely given than barley. It contains nine 

 hundred and fifty-five parts of nutritive matter. When fanners have a da- 

 maged or unmarketable sample of wheat, they sometimes give it to their horses, 

 and, being at first used in small quantities, they become accustomed to it, and 

 thrive and work well : it must, however, always be bruised and given in 

 chaff. Wheat contains a greater portion of gluten, or sticky adhesive matter, 

 than any other kind of grain. It is difficult of digestion, and apt to cake and 

 form obstructions in the bowels. This will oftener be the case if the horse is 

 suffered to drink much water soon after feeding upon wheat. 



Fermentation, colic, and death, are occasionally the consequence of eating any 

 great quantity of wheat. A horse that is fed on wheat should have very little 

 hay. The proportion should not be more than one truss of hay to two of 

 straw. Wheaten flour, boiled in water to the thickness of starch, is given with 

 good effect in over-purging, and especially if combined with chalk and opium. 



Bran, or the ground husk of the wheat, used to be frequently given to sick 

 horses on account of the supposed advantage derived from its relaxing the 

 bowels. There is no doubt that it does operate gently on the intestinal canal, 

 and assists in quickening the passage of its contents, when it is occasionally 

 given ; but it must not be a constant, or even frequent food. Mr. Ernes 

 attended three mills at which many horses were kept, and there were always 

 two or three cases of indigestion from the accumulation of bran or pollard in 

 the large intestines. Bran may, however, be useful as an occasional aperient in 

 the form of a mash, but never should become a regular article of food. 



Beans. — These form a striking illustration of the principle, that the 

 nourishing or strengthening effects of the different articles of food depend 

 more on some peculiar property which they possess, or some combination which 

 they form, than on the actual quantity of nutritive matter. Beans contain but 

 five hundred and seventy parts of nutritive matter, yet they add materially tp 



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