318 ON 11AW AND BOILED GRAIN FOR HORSES. 
quantities of the cut material to the horses so that they may 
neither waste nor want, keeping the manger clean, &c. are all 
supposed to involve a degree of trouble which not many farm- 
servants would be disposed to encounter. 
The actual saving on cutting hay, and the labour spared the 
horses in mastication, have been found to be very considerable ; 
and I do not despair of seeing ultimately brought into practice, 
in every well-regulated farm-establishment, both this and the 
bruising of oats ; believing with Professor Dick, that, before 
food can yield proper nourishment to the animal, it is necessary 
that it be minutely broken down and cooked either naturally or 
artificially. This must be done before digestion can take place ; 
and the more effectually we do this, the more easily and com- 
pletely will the nutritive parts which the food contains be taken 
into the system ; and by thus almost avoiding the possibility of 
waste the animal will be supported in the same condition at 
less cost. 
I have only to express a hope, that my observations and ex- 
periments may be instrumental in drawing attention to a subject 
on which I have felt much anxiety and bestowed much pains. 
It is desirable that a little more attention be devoted to im- 
proving the condition, and adding to the comfort, of the often 
abused, too much neglected, and noblest of all our domesticated 
quadrupeds; whose docility, active habits, strength, and en- 
durance, render him so available to the purposes of the agri- 
culturist. 
[It is with unfeigned pleasure that we insert this “ Prize Essay.” 
The subject is an important one as regards the agriculturist in 
every part of the kingdom — it is admirably treated, and the prize 
was justly bestowed by the Agricultural Society of Scotland. 
One of the Editors of this periodical feels peculiar interest 
in the affair. He has not forgotten that he had the honour to 
rank Mr. Cowie among his pupils, and that at a time when it 
required some moral courage to acknowledge as a preceptor the 
falsely supposed enemy of the English veterinary school. It 
gives him unfeigned pleasure to see that pupil still treading 
the path to which he had ever aimed to direct the attention of 
his class — the identification of the study and practice of the 
veterinary surgeon with the interest. and welfare of the agri- 
culturist. Thus will our art be more highly and deservedly 
valued, and the nonsensical and injurious alienation and sus- 
picion too often now prevalent be for ever banished. — Y.] 
