a THE WORSE—GENERAL CARE, 221 
bulk are desired, pure timothy, or timothy mixed with clover, is the best; 
but for road-horses, driving, racing, or any quick work, blue grass or upland 
prairie should be used. Hay should be well cured, and if possible be put 
up and dried without wetting. It should not be allowed to get-over-ripe, as 
in that case the seed will be lost and the stalk lose much of its nourishing 
properties. Good hay has a bright-green appearance and sweet odor, and 
is pleasant to the taste. As a rule, clover is better adapted to cattle and 
sheep than to horses. The guantity of hay necessary for a horse depends 
upon his size, constitution, kind of work, and the amount of other food 
given. Eight pounds of hay and twelve of oats form a good allowance for 
a fairly-worked horse. Clover, hay and straw, cut into chaff, a double- 
handful being added to each feed, will be very beneficial. 
Straw.—Straw is now often substituted for hay, and by attention to the 
following directions will be found quite as good. The nutritive property in 
either hay or straw consists in the amount of its nitrogenous principle. 
Now, taking the whole of the straw, not including the head, we find by 
chemical investigation that it contains one-third as much nitrogenous prin- 
ciple as hay; consequently we should give about thirty pounds of straw 
daily as an equivalent for ten pounds of hay. The upper third, that is, the 
end with the chaff, is found to be almost as suitable for forming flesh as the 
best meadow hay, and seven pounds of this will answer for six pounds of hay, 
and keep the horse in equally good condition for work. 
In this connection may be given the results of experiments made on 
sixty thousand horses by a special commission appointed in France. 
This successfully overthrows the erroneous cpinions entertained regarding 
the value of straw. It was shown that straw is Je¢fer for the constitution 
and working condition of horses than hay, although it does not produce in 
them an equal bulk when given wode in the same proportion as hay. 
During a period of five weeks two sets of horses, each numbering 
about seven thousand, were experimented upon. To one class were 
given eighteen pounds of straw and nine and one-fifth pounds of oats; 
to the other class, eighteen pounds of hay and nine and one-fifth pounds of 
oats, the combined weights being the same for each class, the only differ- 
ence being an interchange of hay and straw. The horses fed on straw 
were vigorous at their work, and did not sweat much. Of those fed on 
hay the weight of the body increased, the dung: was copious but hard, dry, 
and black; they were covered with sweat when at work, and were much 
softer than usual, a fact which is perhaps accounted for by the quantity of 
hay being larger than was usually given. In the stable the skin was 
warm and dry, the horse yawned often, respiration was impeded, and thirst 
was greater than in those fed on oats and straw. There was no change in 
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