85o 
December 21 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
FEEDING HORSES ON WHEAT BRAN. 
Is If a Dangerous Food? 
We recently received the following letter: 
I feel impelled to write to you about the horse feed 
question. 1 should feel guilty if 1 did not, knowing and 
seeing what 1 do. I should advise against feeding bran, 
as I have seen a number of horses die from the effects of 
it, and consider it very dangerous to feed it in much 
quantity, as it w'ears the intestines thin, and when in¬ 
flammation sets in they burst easily. I think I feed my 
horses as cheaply as anyone can on bran and meal. 1 
feed four quarts of corn and four quarts of oats to a 
large team, tnree quarts corn and three quarts oats to a 
2,200 pound team. Cost for four horses, 57 cents a day. 
Cost on the average, 141^ cents a day. Our horses do 
about six or seven hours’ woi'k a day, generally very 
hard, as I pull a heavy load or else use a sulky plow in 
heavy sod. 1 have a friend who for two years has kept 
three horses weighing about 1,200 pounds apiece. His 
method is this: He feeds at noon four quarts of oats, at 
morning and night he feeds two quarts of whoie corn 
soaked in scalding water for 12 hours. His horses look 
as well as any 1 ever saw, and work exceedingly hard. 
I consider this better than taking the risk of killing 
some of my horses, which would be certain with bran 
or cornmeal. 1 feed 12 pounds hay, three pounds in 
morning, one at noon, and eight at night. h j. b. 
Marion, Conn. 
This wa.s so contrary to our own experience'that 
wc wrote H. .1. B. asking him for further facts. He 
then wrote as follows: 
Three years ago I lost a hor.so from the use of bran. 
At that time 1 had a middle-aged Now Yorker w'orkin.g 
for me who had had a great deal of experience around 
the country. He said he knew of a good many cases of 
it. Since that time I have been on the outlook for cases 
of this kind, as we do most of the doctoring of farm 
a.nimals about here, and also conduct a bone yard or 
skinnery. 1 have had a good chance to observe such 
things. Since my horse died I have skinned and opened 
four horses which died of colic, all but one from the 
effects of bran. We have also had two very bad cases 
caused from it. I also notice that a large number of 
horse books advise against the use of bran as a regular 
food for horses; also against the use of bran of any kind. 
We have also consulted some of the best horsemen 
in the country: 
Whaf a Veierinarian Said. 
Bran is a perfectly wholesome, nutritious and 
easily digested food for horses, provided it be clean. 
If evil effects have followed the feeding of bran, it 
must be because the bran is heated or because it is 
contaminated with some foreign substance. «. warm 
bran mash is prescribed by veterinarians for horses 
that are ill and that need to be tempted by a special¬ 
ly dainty food, and to be nourished by food that is 
(ixceptionally soothing to the digestive tract and easy 
of digestion. To my knowledge no harm and much 
good has resulted from this product. The only ob¬ 
jection to the heavy feeding of bran to horses is that 
it is likely to cause looseness of the bowels. One 
can readily tell by experimenting how much bran a 
horse will stand. The laxative effect of bran is more 
noticeable on horses that are working than on horses 
that are resting in the stable. It is well to remember 
that the diet of the working horse should contain a 
large quantity of carbonaceous material, and that 
bran is altogether foo rich in proteids to be used as a 
large constituent of the diet of the horse. 
Pennsylvania. Leonard peauson. 
A Horse Trainer’s Experience. 
In regard to feeding horses bran, we always prefer 
putting in a quart of dry bran to about three quarts 
of oats for general feeding, or in about that propor¬ 
tion. The reason for this is, that the animal masti¬ 
cates the oats better and eats more slowly, and we 
believe it wholesomer than the four quarts of oats 
alone, and get better results. In feeding weanlings, 
the hardest season to make the little fellows grow is 
through the cold weather. \Je bo'.i the oats twice a 
day for them, and while they are hot we put in about 
one-third Winter wheat bran, thoroughly mixing and 
then let it stand about an hour before feeding. In 
our opinion this is one of the best feeds for growing 
.young horses. You can winter a horse very nicely 
on bran and good hay, if he is not working hard. I 
do not believe it would give entire satisfaction to feed 
too much bran for regular road use, as it is liable to 
cause loosening of the bowels, and cold and inflam¬ 
mation set in. I think I have answered all your 
questions and given you Village Farm's experience. 
You well know we have been successful in breeding 
the best race horses that have been bred in this 
country, also the most successful farm in bringing 
out prize winner.? in tne country. village f.vhm. 
East Aurora, N. Y. John Brad burn, Supt. 
Bran Feeding Used for Roadsters. 
We use bran for everything on the place, horses, 
cows, sheep, pigs and even chickens, and have done so 
since I was a boy. We feed our colts and brood mares 
half bran and half oats as a staple; with this about 
two tablespoonfuls of oil meal. No matter what ra¬ 
tion of bran and oats we give this amount of oil 
meal. To older horses we feed less bran but like a 
little all the time. I have never had any bad results 
from its use, but have never fed over four quarts at 
a feed to a horse. I should think one might feed 
enough to scour a horse if the horse was a glutton, 
and possibly to any horse. I never tried to Kill any¬ 
thing with it, or even tried to see how much they 
cculd stand. We would as soon think of getting 
along without any kind of feed as without th« bran 
to any young growing animals. I think it is used on 
all stock farms. I would not expect to keep a work 
or driving horse on bran alone, for the reason that 
we do not believe there is enough fat and muscle in 
it. It is too bulky a feed to be a sustaining food for 
hard work. I do not handle as many horses as some, 
only sold 20 the past year; they were all light driv¬ 
ing horses but one, he was a work horse. They all 
had more or less bran most of tne time. 
Vermont. c. a. chapman. 
HINT TO BUYERS OF MOWING MACHINES. 
The accompanying cut. Fig. 384, Is from a photo¬ 
graph of the pitman connection of a mower. It is 
shown as an example of what may be expected to 
happen to any machine with the old-fashioned hook 
and eye pitman connection. Notice that both the 
sickle-head and the sickle-bar are broken. There is 
a quarter of an inch “play” in the connection, and 
this is what gave the i)itman a chance to break the 
sickle. The agent for this machine said: “When 
the connection gets loose let the blacksmith heat up 
the end of the pitman and swell it out to fit the 
sickle-head by driving a big punch into the hole.” 
Anyone who has run a mower knows that the only 
way to keep the pitman from knocking the sickle- 
head off or breaking the bar is to keep the connection 
tight. There should be on every mowing machine 
pitman connection of a mower. Fig. :484. 
a ball and socket or some other easily-tightenea joint 
at this place, so that all wear may be taken up as 
fast as it occurs. This point should not be over¬ 
looked by the purchaser of a mower. j. m. d. 
Minnesota. 
WORLD-WIDE WAYS OF FARMERS. 
The well-known novelist, H. Rider Haggard, is a 
large farmer in Norfolk, England. In reading his 
published record of the year 1898, which he calls “A 
Farmer’s Year,” one meets with frank statements of 
the difficulties confronting the English agriculturist, 
which show how uniform is human nature the world 
over. Speaking of the encroachment of the sea on 
the sandy soil of the coast line, and of the inability 
of the land owners to combine to protect themselves, 
he says: “If we were Dutchmen the case would be 
different, but here in rural England, unless they are 
forced to it by act of Parliament, it is almost impos¬ 
sible to oblige people to combine to win future profits 
or ward off future dangers. Many farmers, to all ap¬ 
pearance, would prefer individual failui’e to the 
achievement of a corporate victory.” Will some phil¬ 
osopher please explain this common trait of the farm¬ 
er mind the world over? If a remedy can be sug¬ 
gested and successfully applied, we shall not have 
such melancholy reading as this further extract from 
the same work—words that might have been written 
with equal truthfulness of our own Government at 
Washington: “In to-day’s Times I see that a depu¬ 
tation waited upon Mr. Chaplin, the President of the 
Local Government Board, to urge, among other 
things, the prohibition of the artificial coloring of 
oleomargarine to resemble or imitate butter, and the 
prohibition of the mixing of oleomargarine and but¬ 
ter for sale. From Mr. Chaplin they got uncommon¬ 
ly cold comfort. He told them that he had ‘heard 
the arguments of the other side,’ and that if this 
fraudulent coloring—for the object of the coloring is 
fraud—were prohibited, it was urged that it would 
‘practically destroy the trade.’ Is it not rather hard 
that such an answer should be given to an influential 
deputation by a minister supposed to sympathize 
with the distress of farmers?” Without doubt it Was 
a little hard on the poor British farmer, but his case 
will be no easier until he overcomes his constitu¬ 
tional disinclination to organization. Let him go up 
to London and convince Mr. Chaplin that votes are 
behind him, and note the different reception that will 
be given him. Here in America the politician trades 
on what he believes to be the farmers’ inability to 
combine to force their own interests, and so long as 
he is sure of that he will have no hesitation in flout¬ 
ing the farmer’s demand for simple justice. f. \ v . 
Massachusetts. 
R. N.-Y.—We have always insisted that the only 
way for farmers to obtain what is due them is to 
show their voting power, so that the politicians will 
understand that they mean business. Vote with the 
postage stampl That is the form of ballot to be used 
just now! 
ALFALFA HAY FOR HORSES. 
Alfalfa hay is an excellent roughage for heavily 
worked horses. It keeps them in good flesh, and 
Alfalfa-fed horses have glossy coats of hair such as 
are secured by feeding linseed meal. Teamsters who 
have given Alfalfa a trial for several months usually 
prefer it to other hay, while those who have fed it 
for a short time only strongly condemn it. When 
hard-working horses are first fed Alfalfa they sweat 
profusely, have loose bowels, and often urinate ex¬ 
cessively. If the Alfalfa is properly fed these symp¬ 
toms pass awey in from three to six weeks, and the 
animals get in good condition and remain so. The 
writer recently saw a team of heavy Percheron mares 
that had been fed no other roughage than Alfalfa for 
12 years, and were in nearly what breeders call show 
condition, although they had been fed little grain. 
In getting a horse on feed with Alfalfa hay not over 
two pounds should be fed the first day, and the horse 
should be given the same kind of hay as usual. The 
amount of Alfalfa fed should be slowly increased and 
the amount of roughage correspondingly decreased 
until at the end of three or four weeks the entire 
rough feed becomes Alfalfa. With a good grain ra¬ 
tion 10 to 15 pounds of Alfalfa hay is sufficient for a 
day’s ration for an average farm horse. When grain 
i.? high priced 18 to 20 pounds, and sometimes more, 
may be safely fed, but after 12 pounds per day is 
reached the increase in amount should be made very 
gradually, and a careful watch kept on the condition 
of the horse. If any of the symptoms mentioned as 
occurring wnen the horse is first fed Alfalfa appear 
the amount fed should immediately be reduced and 
kept down to 10 or 12 pounds until the animal gets 
in good condition, when an increase may again be 
slowly made. 
Alfalfa makes the best feed for cattle, sheep and 
■^.ogs when cut when only one-tenth of the plants 
have reached full bloom. It makes the best feed for 
horses when cut when in full bloom or even a little 
later. On large farms it is customary to start cutting 
when the Alfalfa is in proper condition for cattle, the 
work will not be completed until some of the Alfalfa 
is matured too much for cattle. That cut late is fed 
to horses. Alfalfa that has been over cured and 
thereby lost part of its leaves is better for horses 
than for cattle. The fourth and fifth cuttings of 
Alfalfa have a much greater percentage of leaves than 
the earlier cuttings, the hay is very laxative, and 
should not be fed to horses. Under ordinary western 
farm conditions either corn or Kaffir corn is the 
grain fed with Alfalfa. Equal parts of corn and oats 
makes a good grain feed. It is difficult to give the 
comparative values of prairie hay and Alfalfa hay. 
With a good grain ration a careful feeder will give 
a horse as many pounds of Alfalfa hay as he would 
prairie hay, but he will secure a condition of flesh, 
skin and hair that cannot be secured in feeding 
Ijrairie hay without the addition of linseed meal. On 
the other hand, if grain is scarce or high the quan¬ 
tity fed may be limited and an increased amount of 
Alfalfa will take its place. The writer has seen a 
few teams this Fall that were doing ordinary farm 
work and were in good condition that had no other 
feed than Alfalfa hay, but the drivers knew how to 
work and care for their teams, and most teamsters 
would fail on Alfalfa alone. h. m. cottrell. 
Kansas Ag’l College. 
OILING WAGON TIRES.—After a wagon tire is loose 
oil will never tighten it. There is only one salvation 
when the tire gets loose, and that is to have it reset in 
-the proper manner. We manufacture about 75.000 to 80,000 
vehicles a year, and we seldom have any complaints of 
loose tires. The proper way to keep the tire from getting 
loose is to have the timber well seasoned, and then have 
the felloes immersed in hot oil before the tire goes on. 
Have the tire properly set, then the farmer should give 
his wagon or buggy wheels a coat of hot oil about twice 
a year, and he will not be troubled with loose tires and 
the felloes will last much longer, but as there are few 
concerns that adopt the course referred to, the farmer 
will use hot oil in oiling his felloes when the tires are not 
tight, and when the tires are tight, it wili have a ten¬ 
dency to keep them so, and they are not so liable to, get 
loose. J. M. STUDEBAKER. 
