390 ON THE MANAGEMENT OF THE FARM HORSE. 
cwt. per diem of vetches, or clover, or any cut fodder^ at 6c?. per 
cwt., the cost will be for five months about £8, or £l..l2s..0c/. per 
month. If his work on the farm should be laborious, an additional 
expense is incurred of giving from sixty to seventy feeds of oats, 
or a little more than ten bushels, which, at ‘Is..3d. per bushel, will 
be £1..2 s..6d., making a total cost of a little more than £9 for his 
keep during the summer. The value of his soiling must, of course, 
be taken into consideration. From the 1st of November to the 
end of May the winter keep will amount to about, or something 
more than, £12, taking the average at 9s. per week, or £1..16s..0c?. 
per month. Some have proved, and my firm belief goes with 
them, that for horses whose work is laborious, dav after dav on 
the farm, winter feeding during summer is the most profitable to 
the farmer. The annual cost of the farm-horse, for both winter 
and summer, may be computed at or about something more than 
£21. According to this estimate, to detail the exact cost* of a 
horse during winter and summer feeding would be impossible, 
since the work on farms and the quantity of food produced varies 
so much in different localities and districts. 
Cooking Food for Horses. 
Under this head is classed the boiling, steaming, or stewing the 
different sorts of food, more especially bulbous and esculent roots, 
with beans and barley: hay or straw, or grain is not well suited 
for steaming. The process, as the Editor of that serviceable 
journal, the “ Farmer’s Magazine,” says, has the effect of charring 
the aliment. Mashes of boiled turnips and meal is the common 
feed of dealers; it is usually the diet they adopt as the quickest 
plan of making up a horse for the market; it has also found favour 
in other horse establishments, by affording a quick method of 
serving out a large number of horses in a short time. Some 
consider the advantage of cooked food to be, in soon satisfying 
the wants of the animal from its easy mastication; but for perfect 
digestion, mastication, whereby a due commixture of saliva with 
the food takes place, is required; the reason, therefore, is ob¬ 
vious why indigestion, flatulence, and gripes, so often assail 
the horse fed on cooked meat. It ought never to be given 
hot, nor in a sour state ; since cooked food soon runs into the 
acetous fermentation, and when given in this state has caused 
death from flatus, as I have several times seen. It is an uncon¬ 
troverted fact, that horses fed on cooked food, although they acquire 
a fine silken coat, look well, and are full of spirit, yet soon alter 
in appearance when put to any active or laborious work. They 
* The cost is to be taken according to the marketable value of the article. 
