350 
Breeding of Hunters and Roadders. 
the prospect of the young stock being put into training at 
eiohteeu months old, but especially that of their being previously 
offered for sale. The object of primary importance, that of pro- 
ducing the most symmetrically formed horse, is thus made sub- 
ordinate to the destre of turning out the largest yearling colt. 
I am of opinion that if the quantity of corn given to some 
of the blood -stock was diminished to three feeds daily (a 
chi.nge which would induce them to eat a larger propor- 
ticn of hay), their conditicm would be thereby improved, even 
for the time, and more obviously so for the future. What is 
recjuired in the colt is thorough development of t?ie muscidar 
ai.d nervous system, and of those organs yvhich carry on the 
fui.ctions of nutrition: a little fat will be stoied up, accoiding to 
the natural law ; but young horses ihould never be made up 
until they are what may well be called " beastly fat." To be 
liberally fed, so that there is no interruption to growth, their 
apjetites and condition should be carefully watched, and the 
distribution of food regulated with judgment. 
I disappiove of green food, such as vetches, clover, and other 
grasses, cut when in season, and given in large cjuantities to horses, 
of any class. Green foiage so given has few of the properties 
which it possesses when horses eat it off the ground as it grows. 
In his normal state, the horse selects and masticates, so that the 
process of feeding is slow. Mown glass becomes first uelted, 
then ferments, is stalky or woody, and when placed beloie horses 
under restraint, it is eaten voiaciously ; the stomach and bowels 
becoming overcharged, digestion is impaired. All grasses should 
be either eaten off the ground, or else, when cut, made into hay, 
whereby time is given for the consecjuent fermentation.* \V he n 
1 make any excej)tions to this rule, I am very caiclul as to the 
kind of glass, and its state when cut — it should be at the point of 
flowering ; and the cjuantity sujiplied must be small on the whole, 
and nicely apportioned between different baits. These statements 
are meant rather as cautions than fixed rules. In town, the ill 
effects of giving green food are most il.aiked, because there it is 
commonly given in an imfit state, thiough the causes alluded 
to. The same objections do not apjilv to roots, amongst which 
carrots especially form an excellent adjunct to good oats and hay, 
during a great part of the year, for mares and young stock of dif- 
ferent ages. Scientific reseaiches into the chemistry of food 
have not done much to modify the sound rules of piactice long 
established in England on the feeding of horses. In ISGO, the 
Cleveland Agricultuial Society set the example of giving ICO/, 
to the best thoioughbred* stallion for getting hunters: and 
the lloyal Agricultuial Society, by offering a like prize at its 
three la&t meetings, w ith similar conditions attached, has afforded 
