FOOD. 397 



> i contains nine hundred and fifty-five parts of nutritive matter 

 WTien farmers have a damaged or unmarketable sample of 

 wheat, they sometimes give it to their horses, and, being at firsi 

 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 forms 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 conse- 

 quence of eating any great quantity of wheat. A horse that is 

 led 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 ope- 

 rate 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 al- 

 ways 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 arti- 

 cles 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 to 

 the vigor of the horse. There are many horses that will not 

 stand hard work without beans being mingled with their food, 

 and these not horses whose tendency to purge it may be neces- 

 sary to restrain by the astringency of the bean. There is no 

 traveller who is not aware of the difference in the spirit and con- 

 tinuance of his horse whether he allows or denies him beans on 

 his journey. They afford not merely a temporary stimulus, but 

 they may be daily used without losing their power, or produci))g 

 exhaustion. They are indispensable to the hard-worked coach- 

 horse. Washy horses could never get through their work with- 

 out them ; and old horses would often sink under the task im- 

 posed upon them. They should not be given to the horses whol^ 



