Breeding and Manar/cmcnt of Horses on a Farm. 530 
taxed by producing: a fresh supply of the gnstric juice, or that the 
second meal will pass into the intestines without having been satu- 
rated by that fluid. 
As I have already remarked, the carter, totally ignorant of the 
natural laws by which digestion is regulated, thinks that the more 
his horses eat the more fit for work will they become ; and if 
their allowance of corn and beans be daily meted out to them by 
the farmer himself, takes care that, at all events, they shall never 
want for a plentiful supply of hay, with which he never fails to 
cram the racks. Independent of the waste thus committed, I 
have already shown the bad effects of allowing this system to be 
pursued for any length of time, and need not therefore advert to 
it again. The power and activity of many a team is often dimi- 
nished through want of supervision by the farmer in the article 
of diet, and more work might be got out of his horses, besides 
effecting a great saving of food, did he take as much pains to 
regulate their allowance of hay or green meat as he does of oats 
and beans. The smullness of a horse's stomach also in compa- 
rison to his bulk renders the allowance of a large quantity of hay 
doubly injurious, inasmuch as a great deal of it must be swal- 
lowed before nutriment equivalent to a feed of corn can be ex- 
tracted from it, and the distension of the stomach thus produced 
is, as has been already observed, destructive of its power, and 
eventually of course produces corresponding debility of the whole 
system. 
The plan of giving a large quantity of cut chaff to horses with 
their corn may be equally productive of mischief, unless care be 
taken to ascertain the appetite and powers of digestion of each 
animal ; and the system of giving the whole of the food as 
manger-meat, under the impression that the horse will lie down 
and rest so soon as he has finished his meal, is in many cases 
liable to the objection that, even when satisfied, he will continue 
to eat for the purpose of getting the corn that is mixed with his 
food, and will then probably only lie down immediately from the 
feeling of oppression induced by repletion. When corn, beans 
and chaff, in proper quantity and proportions, are given without 
the admixture of cut hay, if a horse have had enough he will, 
unless a glutton, lie down perhaps at once, or will pull a small 
portion of hay from the rack before he does so, but will never 
leave the food that contains corn until he have eaten more than 
is good for him and he loathe the remainder. 
The next important point to be attended to in the treatment of 
the horse is to ensure for him at all times and in all situations an 
abundant supply of fresh and uncontaminated air. Cleanliness 
in the stable is therefore a point to be strictly attended to on 
every occasion, and one to which for the most part the farmer is 
