HOW TO FEED A HORSE. 137 



objection to large horses is not so mucli the increased 

 amount of food required, as the fact that they are soon used 

 up hy wear. They would prefer for feed a mixture of half 

 corn and half oats, if it were not more expensive. Horses 

 do not keep fat so well on oats alone, if at hard labor, as 

 on corn meal, or a mixture of the two. 



" Straw is best for bedding. If salt hay is used, horses 

 eat it, as not more than a bag of 200 pounds of salt is used 

 in three months. Glauber salt is allowed occasionally aa 

 a laxative in the spring of the year, and the animals eat it 

 voraciously. If corn is too new, it is mixed with an equal 

 weight of rye bran, which prevents scouring. Jersey yel- 

 low corn is best, and horses like it best. The hay is all 

 cut, mixed with meal, and fed moist. ISTo difference is 

 made between day and night work. The travel is contin. 

 uous, except in warm weather, when it is sometimes 

 divided, and an interval of rest allowed. In cold weather 

 the horses are watered four times a day in the stable, and 

 not at all on the road. In warm weather, four times a 

 day in the stables, and are alfbwed a sip on the middle of 

 the route. 



" The amount that the company exact from each horse is 

 all that he can do. In the worst of the traveling they fed 

 450 bags per week of meal, of 100 pounds each. They now 

 feed 400. The horses are not allowed to drink when warm. 

 If allowed to do so, it founders them. In warm weather a 

 bed of saw -dust is prepared for them to roll in. Number of 

 horses, 335. Speed varies, but is about four miles an 

 hour. Horses eat more in cold weather than in warm, 

 but the difference cannot be exactly determined." 



From this Eeport we deduce the following hints : 



1. It IS possible for horses to be kept in good condition, 

 on severe work, when fed on cut hay and corn meal, with- 

 out oats. 



