578 A HISTORY OF THE PERCHERON HORSE 



a bran mash twice a week at the evening feed. I 

 use a little molasses in the wintertime, it hastens 

 the gains on the horses by increasing their ap- 

 petites and it also adds bloom to a horse's coat of 

 hair. It should be thinned with hot water, and 

 -then sprinkled over the grain feed and over the 

 hay. Never feed molasses in the summertime, how- 

 ever, as it only attracts the flies, and one cannot 

 keep the feedboxes clean when using molasses. 



' ' So far as hay is concerned, I prefer bright clover 

 hay, but clover and timothy mixed make excellent 

 feed. I do not like alfalfa for fattening geldings. 

 While the first and second cuttings of alfalfa, if 

 properly cured, make very good horse feed, one can 

 never be sure whether he is obtaining the earlier 

 cuttings or the later cuttings. The last cuttings 

 are always too soft and cause too much work for the 

 kidneys, and my observation has been that one 

 is apt to' have more trouble with the hocks filling 

 up when alfalfa is used than when the other hays 

 are fed. Besides this, I have found that my horses 

 do not ship so well when fed alfalfa hay as when I 

 have used the bright clover or the clover and timothy 

 mixed. Do not use straight timothy, however; this 

 wUl bankrupt any man who undertakes to do it. 

 I never use timothy alone, even in preparing horses 

 for shipment or in, shipping them, as it causes 

 them to appear light in the middle and cut up in 

 the hind flank. 



' ' During the late summer and early fall I feed some 

 green com, but it should be fed sparingly, as it is 

 too soft as a rule to feed to horses that have not been 

 on grain very long. Green com is a excellent feed, 

 however, on which to start thin horses; it tones up 

 the system and gets them in good condition to start 

 fattening. I have fed some silage and find it very 



