SELECTION, CARE AND MANAGEMENT 579 



satisfactory, providing it has been put in when 

 the corn is fairly well hardened and is good and 

 clean-smelling, without the acid condition that is 

 too often found in silage from com that is not 

 suffciently matured. Extreme care must be exer- 

 cised, not to give any silage that contains the least 

 evidence of mold; moldy silage will kill horses as 

 quickly as any feed I know of. 



"Be careful about using shredded fodder. If it 

 could be shredded before being rained on and after it 

 had become thoroughly cured, it would be excellent 

 feed, but it is almost impossible to get shredded fod- 

 der in that condition. I have found it very difficult to 

 avoid colic when shredded fodder is fed. 



"I like to feed a tablespoonful of ashes made 

 from ash or hickory wood twice a week, mixing 

 it in with the ordinary feeds, but I do not feed any 

 stockfoods or patent medicine tonics. I am afraid 

 of them and do not believe there is any advantage 

 in using them. If a man has bright clover hay and 

 gives plenty of salt and water, his horses will keep 

 in healthy condition and will not need tonics or 

 salts to keep them from becoming unduly consti- 

 pated. 



"So far as the amount of feed to be given is 

 concerned , no hard and fast rules can be laid down. 

 This is a matter that must rest in the discretion 

 of the feeder, and the aim should be to give the 

 horses all the feed that they can stand without 

 overdoing it so as to cause them to lose their ap- 

 petites. Some horses will consume a great deal more 

 feed than others and will make much more rapid 

 gains. I have had horses that have gained as much 

 as 150 pounds in a month, but that is very unusual 

 and ordinarily we figure on a gain of about 3 pounds 

 a day on geldings being fed for the market. 



