THE CULTIVATOR. 
without having' arrived at the speed and other qualities of good 
breeding. 
The remaining class of horses consist of those in which no mix¬ 
ture, or a very slight one, of stranger blood is found. These are 
the ponies of our mountains, or the larger horses of the plains, it 
is these last that interest the farmer as the animals of labor, and 
to them we commonly apply the term cart-horse, or farm-horse. 
STABLE All) TREAT 31 EXT. 
The farm-horse demands, neither in the training nor in the feed¬ 
ing, that nicely which is required in the case of the horse design¬ 
ed for rapid motion or irregular labor. He requires merely to be 
maintained in good order, never to be worked beyond his power, 
and never to be allowed to fall, in condition, below the work 
which he is to perform. 
The stable for the farm-horse, as for every other, should be spa¬ 
cious and well ventilated. It is a great error to suppose that horses 
require a close, warm stable, to preserve them in health. To keep 
them fully sheltered, and free from the action of any cold current, 
is all that is requisite. The horse is well suited to bear an equal 
temperature, but not sudden changes produced by artificial means. 
Farm-horses regularly worked have been known to be kept 
throughout the coldest winters in merely open sheds, not only 
without injury, but with greater benefit to their health than if they 
had been too closely confined. 
Next to ventilation in importance, is cleanliness of the stable. 
No filth should be suffered to accumulate, but every day the sta¬ 
ble should be cleaned out, with the same attention tor the farm as 
for the saddle horse. In the farm-horse stable, every ploughman 
should have a small fork, a curry-comb, a brush, a mane-comb, 
and a foot-picker. 
Light should be admitted into every stable, to a certain extent. 
But in the case of farm-horses, which are only in the stable dur¬ 
ing the hours of rest and feeding, less light is necessary than in 
the case of the saddle-horse, which passes a great part of his time 
within doors. The light required for the farm-horse stable is that 
which is sufficient to allow the workmen to perform their duties 
in the day-time. Sometimes there is a room adjoining the stable 
for holding the harness, but it is perfectly convenient and sufficient 
in practice, to have the simple furniture of the farm-horse hung 
on pins in the wall behind each pair of horses. 
The food of the horse in this country consists of herbage, or 
green forage, as clovers and sainfoin ; of dried forage, as hay and 
straw ; of various farinaceous substances, as oats, barley, pease, 
and beans ; and of the succulent roots of plants, as the potato, the 
turnip, the carrot, the parsnip, and the beet. Of the grains given 
to the horse, the most generally employed in this country, and 
that which is regarded as well adapted to his strength and spirit, 
is the oat. 
The oat is, for the most part, given to the horse without any 
preparation, though it is sometimes bruised, which is always be¬ 
neficial, by rendering it more easily masticated and digested. It 
is usually given in portions at a time, familiarly known under the 
term feeds, the measure of which, however, varies in different dis¬ 
tricts. A feed in some places consists of a gallon, being the 
eighth part of a bushel, and weighing, upon a medium, about 44 
pounds. 
Two gallons in the day, or 9 lbs. are considered to be good feed¬ 
ing when the horse is on dry food, and not on hard work; when 
on hard work, the quantity may be increased to 3 gallons, and 
when on light work, and green food, it may be reduced to 1 gal¬ 
lon, and sometimes altogether withdrawn. But on an average, 2 
gallons in a day, that is, about 90 bushels in the year, may be 
sufficient in every case for the working-horse of a farm. In prac¬ 
tice, too, it is not the superior but the lighter oats, that are given 
to the farm-horses. These are the light corn formerly described. 
Oats may be given to horses reduced to a state of meal, but this 
is only practised in the case of gruel given to a sick horse. To 
in luce a horse to take gruel, it is put in a pail and placed beside 
him, so that when thirsty he may drink of it. 
Meal is sometimes given with cold water to horses, when tra¬ 
velling. This is a refreshing feed to a horse on a journey, and a 
safe one when the chill is just taken off the water ; but it is chiefly 
employed in journeys when time is of importance, and it is ac¬ 
cordingly rarely given in the case of the farm-horse, who should 
always have time given him to feed. 
When oats are kept in a damp state, fungi grow upon them, 
141 
and they acquire a musty smell and bad taste. They should never 
be given in this state to a horse, but should first be kilndried, so 
as to expel the moisture and destroy the fungi. 
Barley is more nutritious than oats, although, in the practice of 
this country, it is not so much approved of in feeding. But over 
all the Continent, barley is the most common food of the horse. 
If bruised and mixed with chopped straw or hay, it is an excellent 
provender. But the most common method of giving barley to 
horses in England, is in what is termed a mash. The barley in 
this case is boiled in water, and the whole is then allowed to stand 
until it is sufficiently cool. The mash forms admirable feeding 
for a sick horse ; it keeps the bowels open, and is nutritive, with¬ 
out being heating. 
In feeding horses, even when upon hard work, a practice has 
been introduced of feeding the horse entirely on steamed food, 
with chopped hay and straw. The proportions of the different 
kinds of food employed in this manner are not subject to rule. But 
about | in weight of the whole may consist of the chaff of straw, \ 
of the chaff of hay, I of bruised or coarsely ground grain, and £ 
may consist of steamed potatoes. To this should be added about 
2 oz. of common salt. From 30 to 35 lb. of this mixed provender, 
or on an average 324 lbs. in 24 hours, will suffice for any horse. 
Two methods may be adopted in the giving of this food. Either 
the whole substances may be mixed together, and a certain pro¬ 
portion given to the horses three or four times in the day ^ or the 
dry food alone may be given during the first part of the day, and 
the steamed food mixed with a portion of the dried food in a mess 
at night. 
In the first case, that is, when the whole mess is to be mixed 
together, the potatoes or other steamed food are first to be prepar¬ 
ed, then weighed and mixed with the chopped straw or hay, and 
with the bruised oats. The quantity for 24 hours being mixed and 
prepared, the proportion for each horse is to be weighed and set 
apart in its proper pail, and given to each horse at three or more 
times, as shall best suit with the work with which he is engaged, 
taking care that consideiably the largest quantity shall be given 
at night. 
When this method of feeding is adopted upon a farm, it should 
be confined entirely to the months of winter, for the horses of a 
farm will always be best and most economically fed during the 
months of summer, on pasture and green forage. 
Science of Agriculture, 
From Cliaplal’s Chemistry applied to Agriculture. 
OF THE EFFECTS OF THE NOURISHMENT OF PLANTS 
UPON THE SOIL. 
It appears to be clearly proved, that plants imbibe from water 
and the atmosphere only carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen; but 
analysis shows us that, independently of these principles and the 
products arising from their combinations, plants contain azote 
and some earthy and saline substances, which cannot be pro¬ 
duced by either of the three elements mentioned above. It re¬ 
mains then for us to inquire, in what manner these substances 
have been introduced into plants. 
Azote, which is found in the albumen, the gelatine, and the 
green colouring matter, is not sensibly drawn from the atmosphere, 
though it constitutes 4-5ths of it, but passes in with oxygen in the 
water imbibed by plants, and, like that, is separated in their or¬ 
gans. 
The earths which are insoluble in water, but which are mixed 
with, or suspended in that fluid, are not absorbed in large quanti¬ 
ties by the pores of plants, but may be conveyed into them by the 
aid of some chemical agents, as the acids, the alkalies, &c. 
Besides, if we observe attentively, we shall find that these sub¬ 
stances do not abound in plants ; and we can easily conceive, 
that the little they do contain, might, in a state of extreme divi¬ 
sion, be introduced by water. 
There are some plants that fasten themselves and glow upon the 
most barren rocks, deriving from the surrounding air, and from 
rains, all the nourishment required by them ; of this number are 
the mosses, the lichens, and the fleshy plants. Their growth is 
slow, their transpiration almost nothing, and their colour remains 
nearly the same all the year round; so that they constantly ab¬ 
sorb water and carbonic acid, and assimulate their constituent 
principles. 
