THE HORSE. 
30 
course be boarded up, with the exception of the part from which the 
horse eats. The advantage of this arrangement would be, that all the 
hay would be eaten, and not pulled down, as is generally the case, and 
tioddcn underfoot amongst the litter. Much hay will be saved by the 
use of a deep manger as a substitute for a rack ; and an equal saving 
would take place in grain if the manger were made to slope slightly in- 
ward instead of outward, as is usually the case. It would exceedingly 
puzzle a wasteful or mischievous horse to throw his corn out of such a 
manger if deep enough ; but for this the manger as usually constructed 
affords him every facility. 
Dung never ought to be allowed to be swept up in a corner, as is fre- 
quently the case, and all wet litter should be removed. In short, the 
more pains that are taken relative to a horse’s comfort in a stable, the 
more will he repay those pains ; and the farmer especially can have no 
better assurance that the more the horses thrive, the more will he him- 
self thrive. The very fact of his attention to his horses independently 
of the more effective work arising therefrom, will beget a similar habit 
of attention to every thing else. 
THE HORSE’S FOOD.— This should be oats and hay of the best quality ; 
beans for hard-working horses occasionally varied with carrots or 
Swedes, bran mashes, and under some circumstances linseed gruel. 
Many persons are not aware that the price of musty grain and bad hay 
is vastly dearer than that of the same commodities of good quality, and 
that the worse the quality the higher the cost. It is so nevertheless, 
for whether the purchaser of inferior articles bargain for it or not, he 
always purchases, with them indigestion, foulness of blood, looseness of 
the bowels, geneihl debility, and glanders, all of these being too costly 
to be purchased into any stable. \\ e once knew a farmer whose prac- 
tice it was to sell all his best articles and keep the refuse of the farm for 
his own horses ; the consequence was, that he never was without glan- 
ders or some other disease in his stable \ and there was not a carter in 
the parish who did not give his team a wide berth wherever he met it 
w ith his own horses. It was the man’s system, nevertheless, and he 
either could not see its banefulncss or he would not alter it ; so he died 
at last trojn it, having caught a glanderous infection from his own 
stable. MrMSpooner, in speaking of this subject, thus testifies his own 
experience : “ r ii7i>e known a serious loss sustained by a proprietor of 
post and coach horses, from keeping a considerable stock of oats and 
neglecting to turn them; many horses became glandered and farcied, 
apparently in consequence of this circumstance.” 
Whole or Bruised bruin, — Much has been said of late respecting the 
advantage of bruising oats, aud various machines are much in vogue for 
the purpose. Mr. Spooner says of them, “they are apt to produce 
diarrhoea, especially if the animal is worked hard.” It is further alleged 
that many horses will not eat them with an appetite, and the opponents 
to the system go further, urging that unbruised oats excite a flow of 
saliva necessary to perfect digestion, which is not the case with those 
which are bruised. The explanation to the first of these questions sup- 
plies a very strong recommendation. The stomach having derived a 
sullicient quantity ot nourishment from a moderate portion does not re- 
