1 Sepr., 1899,] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 277 
FEEDING SUGAR TO HORSES. 
A soctery in France has been carrying on an interesting series of experi- 
ments connected with sugar-feedinge to horses. At first 21 oz. of sugar per 
day were given pér head ; this rose to 52 oz. The fodder was hay and maize, 
respectively, and the maize-sugar diet proved of efficacy in establishing a high 
degree of alimentation. The results were so satisfactory that the Government 
has been asked to suspend molasses from all local and Customs imposts. 
WORKING HORSES WITHOUT SHOES. 
CUSTOMS IN DIFFERENT COUNTRIES. 
Lone before the days of nailed-on iron shoes, some form of protection for the hoof 
against excessive wear was found to be necessary, and is still found necessary 
to-day in countries where the art of shoeing, as we understand it, is still 
unknown (says a writer in Bibby’s Quarterly). 
It is well authenticated that the horses of Alexander’s army suffered 
severely during marches through Asia in consequence of the wearing of their. 
feet, and that vast numbers, becoming lame, had to be abandoned. Mithridates, 
King of Pontus, while laying siege to Cycecies, sent his entire cavalry to 
Bithynia for treatment on account of the manner in which the horses’ feet had 
suffered from marching, Xenophon recommended keeping horses on stone 
Pageant to render their hoofs as hard as possible, and Calumella suggests oak 
or a flooring to harden the hoofs in similar fashion. ; 
No Greek or Latin writer on military science, 
mentions shoeing with nailed-on shoes ; but for 
recommends leather soles; Aristotle speaks of 
the feet ; the Greek veterinary surgeon, A bsyrtus, 
to the straps by which soles were affixed; Cato su 
more resistant ; and Calumella, Theomnestius, and 
soles or shoes formed of woven broom reeds 
straps. 
hippology, or agriculture 
baggage horses, Xenophon 
« kind of sock bound on 
clearly indicates the evils due 
gests pitch to make the feet 
Vegetius describe protecting 
and bast, fastened to the hoof by 
WHAT THEY DO IN JAPAN, 
In Japan most of the horses, even the cart horses 
of rice-straw and bound on with ropes made of the gs 
ponies are shod with sheep’s horns, and in the y 
antlers of the mountain deer are used for the sa: 
horses are sometimes shod with socks made of camel’s-skin. 
In a state of nature the hoof acts asa protective covering to the sensitive 
structure of the foot, and so far as it goes the provision is perfect. In propor- 
tion as the bearing surface of the hoof wears away, itis renewed from above ; 
but immediately the horse is made to draw or carry on ordinary roads the hoof 
wears more rapidly than it can be produced, arid some artificial protection 
becomes indispensable. Not only is the general wear in excess of the growth, 
but perfect action in the animal rarely exists, and the horse does not lift and 
extend his feet and replace them quietly and evenly on the ground as in theory 
he is supposed to do. 
, wear straw shoes, made 
ame material. In Iceland 
wley of the Upper Oxus the 
me purpose. In the Soudan 
NO HOOF CAN WITHSTAND A MACADAMISED ROAD. 
Experience and close observation disclosed that in almost all cases there is 
such an amount of toe-digging, heel-battering, side-twisting, and forward-shoving 
that no hoof can withstand a hard macadamised road. At the same time, it 
must be remembered that regular shoeing, and improper treatment in the pre- 
paration of the foot for the reception of the shoe, robs the feet of the exercis 
of their natural functions, and diminishes their natural protection. 
There is a vast difference between attempting to work a horse without 
shoes whose feet have always borne them, and whose frogs, soles, and walls 
have been ruthlessly cut and rasped, and attempting the same thing with a horse 
