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FRANK MILLER'S

HORSE FEEDING.

A Book of Information and Suggestion Gathered

from the Reports of Experiment Stations ^

Other Official Publications, and

Practical Authorities 07i the

Care of the Horse^

By ROBERT LUCE.

Published by

THE FRANK MIIvI^ER COMPANY,

349 & 351 West 26th Street,

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COPYRIGHTED, 1900,

BY
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T^HE MATERIAL for this book has been gathered
from many sources, and as the author claims for
its statements little originality, it has been deemed
superfluous in most cases to designate the authority
quoted. It is hoped that few errors have crept into
the compilation, and that the putting of this material
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CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I. Page

The Functions and Composition of Food ,.:. 7

CHAPTER ir.
The Various Foods 21

CHAPTER III.
The Preparation of Food 71

CHAPTFR IV.
Feeding and Rations 76

CHAPTER V.
The Art of Feeding 89

CHAPTER VI.
Watering 100

CHAPTER VII.

Feeding Stallions 105

CHAPTER VIII.
Feeding Brood Mares 108

CHAPTER IX.
C;olt Feeding 110

CHAPTER X.
Feeding Sick Horses 124

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fI®RgE FIEEDINS.

CHAPTER 1.

THE FUNCTIONS AND COMPOSITION OF FOOD.

Food has two functions, one the furnishing of material, the
other the furnishing of power. In its first capacity it makes
and maintains the body ; in the second, it enables the body to
live and work. It is partly staple, partly fuel.

These functions, however, are not clearly distinct. They
overlap, since some of the materials of the body may in the end
become fuel. The bear goes into winter quarters fat: he
comes out lean. He has lived on his own tissues during his
long sleep. Take a plump horse, feed him light, work him
hard, and he gets thin. Why? The fuel in his food has been
less than the work required, and he has made up the lack by
consuming part of himself.

Only the bones are not consumed, either as waste or fuel, to
any extent worth considering. They therefore affect the feed-
ing problem only during the growth of the young animal.
Likewise the supply of material for the cartilages, skin and hair
is of relatively small importance. What chiefly concerns us is
the supply of those materials that make up the working part of
the body, the blood, the muscles, and the tendons, together
with the body's own fuel supply, the fat.

On chemical examination it has been found that these have
for their chief constituent water, which, like the minerals of

8 HORSE FEEDING.

the bones, is so nearly universal in all foods that no account is
taken of its presence in them, and therefore it may be left for
independent consideration when we take up the matter of
drinking.

Next of the chemical constituents in quantity, and in reality
the most to be considered, are nitrogen and carbon. Nitrogen
is chiefly a tissue maker ; carbon, a heat maker, a life sustainer,
a fuel supply. Nutritive food is that which contains these in-
gredients in such shape that they can be assimilated by the
body, transformed into it, or consumed by it.

Distinguish clearly between growth and nutrition. In growth
proper no change of form or composition takes place : parts
merely increase in weight, and usually in size ; and if they
obtain more power, it is only more power of the same kind they
before enjoyed. Nutrition, on the other hand, maintains parts
that are constantly changing, preserves in them the same gen-
eral form, size and characteristics they have already attained,
though modifying them somewhat according to the nature of
the nutrition itself.

The nutritive parts of food, technically known as its nutri-
ents, in reality furnish both growth and nutrition, but it is well
to remember that these are separate functions. Such a dis-
crimination, for instance, has its use in impressing the fact
that during the period of growth the nitrogen elements of food
are relatively more important thanthe carbon elements. Later
on when nutrition proper takes the chief place, when work is
to be done and life is to be sustained merely that work may be
done, the fuel value of the carbon elements assumes far greater
prominence.

Upon classifying the nutritive elements of food, the nutri-
ents, we find that only a part contain nitrogen. They have a
distinctive name, or rather two names used interchangeably,
proteins and albuminoids , meaning much the same thing. The
numerous substances grouped under these names are alike in
being composed of hydrogen, oxogen, nitrogen, carbon, and
sulphur. What is commonly known as albumen is a typical
example. It is most commonly thought of as the chief ingre-
dient in the white of an egg, but it is found in vegetable sub-
stances as well as in animal, and in relation to horse feeding it

THE FUNCTIONS AND COMPOSITION OF FOOD 9

is more important to know that it is the edible or useful part of
many seeds, notably those that go under the American name of
grain and the English name of corn^ i. e. wheat, maize, oats,
rye, barley, etc. In these cereals it is mealy or farinaceous.
When found in peas, beans, and similar plants it is known as
legumen. The albuminoid in milk is known as casein^ and is
derived from the albumenoid or protein of the food, and in its
turn becomes food.

Washed lean meat is another example of protein, and this
suggests why as a food ingredient it so important, for it makes
up the greater part of the flesh of the horse, or for that matter
of any animal. Likewise the organic part of the bones, the lig-
aments and muscles that bind together and move the bones, the
skin, the internal organs, the blood, brain and nerves, in short,
all the working machinery of the body is composed chiefly of
protein.

Be it remembered, too, that as the various parts of the body
are consumed and thrown off with the undigested part of the
food as excreta, manure, the most important element therein
is again the protein, or rather its nitrogen constituent.

Besides the albuminoids there are present in plants certain
other compounds containing nitrogen. These are known as
amines, amides and amido-acids. They doubtless have a dif-
ferent feeding value from the real albuminoids, but as the
amount of these substances is usually small in the common
feeding stuffs, it has been customary to disregard these and to
calculate all the nitrogen present as albuminoids. It has been
suggested that these minor nitrogen compounds might well be
termed the ^''portable form " of the albuminoids, since the albu-
minoids in the seed or plant are converted into this form to be
transported to other parts of the plant for re-deposition. In
this respect they are analagous to the peptones^ the soluble form
into which the nitrogenous portion of the food is changed in
the stomach of the animal, and in which form it can be taken
into the circulation for the rebuilding of tissue, and its other
functions.

It has been found that the albuminoids all contain about 16
per cent, of nitrogen. As 16x8.25 = 100, it is customary to
determine the amount of albuminoids or protein in any given

10 HORSE FEEDING.

quantity of food, by ascertaining through chemical analysis
the amount of nitrogen and multiplying it by 6.25.

Next in importance to the albuminoids comes the group of
nutrients composed of hydrogen, oxygen, and carbon. These
are the fuel ingredients, and are either consumed directly or
stored as fat to be burned as occasion demands. They contain
starch, sugar, gums, fats or oils, and woody fibre or cellulose.
As a group they are subdivided into carbohydrates, fats, and
crude fibres.

The carbohydrates comprise chiefly the starches, sugars and
gums. They are frequently classed to;j:ether under the name
of nitrogen-free extract, and sometimes as non-nitrogenous matter.
Its percentage in any given food is found by subtracting the
sum of the ash, fibre, fat. and protein from 100.

The fats or oils of organic substances are separated in analy-
sis by the use of ether as a solvent. Since in the analysis of
vegetable foods this ether also removes some of the coloring
matter of the plant, and from some substances like ensilage,
some organic acids, the whole is generally designated as crude
fat or simply as ether extract. The fats are considered to have
two and one-half times the feeding value of the substances
contained in the starch, sugar, and gum group, i. e. the carbo-
hydrates. Cotton seed oil, linseed oil, corn oil, etc., are com-
mon examples. Crude Hbre is the woody portion of vegetable
matter which is unacted upon by dilute acids or alkalies.
Crude fibre has little or no direct nutritive value to the animal.
Paper is a good illustration of almost pure fibre.

Besides the substances mentioned, food is found on analysis
to contain but one other group of substances, the inorganic or
mineral, known as the ash. This is the part that remains un-
consumed by burning. Its ingredients form the solid matter
of the animal frame-work, bones, and occur, also, in small
quantities in the muscles, blood, etc. Lime,. phosphoric acid,
potash, etc., constitute the mineral elements of the ash. They
are found in all the fodders commonly used, and are generally
held to be in all in sufficient quantity, except as to the matter
of ordinary salt. Yet some hold that even their relative abun-
dance is a matter worth consideration in feeding. To illustrate
this it is cited that a goat fed at Proskau on being deprived of

THE FUNCTIONS AND COMPOSITION OF FOOD. 11

lime and phosphoric acid ia its food died after fifteen days.
Some pigeons were fed by Liebeg on wheat exclusively for
two years, with the result that the skeleton disappeared, owing
without doubt, to the very small amount of lime and magnesia
salts furnished by this grain. The same point is brought to
bear in argument that oats are the best grain for young stock,
inasmuch as they contain about eight times as much of the
salts of lime and magnesia as wheat contains, five times as much
as rye contains, and twice as much as barley. Hence it is
argued that to the part played by oats in the formation of the
skeleton, is due the fact that young thoroughbreds can be put
to severe exercise almost before they mature. However, most
investigators of the subject of feeding have not thought it
necessary to attach much importance to the mineral constitu-
ents of food.

It is not enough to determine the proportion of nutrients in
food. Beyond this, and of nearly equal importance, is the de-
termination of how large a proportion of them the animal can
utilize. In other words, what the animal digests must be con-
sidered as well as what he eats.

The digestible percentage of food is termed the digestion co-
efflcient. To illustrate, take the following analysis of clover
hay: —

Analysis Digestion

^ per cent. co-efficient.

Water 15.35

Ash 5.50

Albuminoids 12.05 63

Crude fiber 25.99 • 49

Carbo-hydrates 37.63 71

Fat 3.48 60

The first column shows us that this clover hay contained
15.35 per cent, of water, 12.05 per cent, of albuminoids, etc. ; or
in other words, 100 pounds of this hay had a little more than
15 pounds of water, something over 12 pounds of albuminoids
(nitrogenous matter), and so on as to the other constituents.
In the second column is shown what part of these albuminoids,
etc., the animals can take out of the hay to be made into flesh,

12 HORSE FEEDING.

blood, and heat to keep the body warm, sustain life, etc., etc.
Now if we multiply the figures in the first column by those in
the second, we shall see at once how much of the albuminoids,
fat, and carbohydrates the animal can use.

Suppose the horse-owner finds his horse is eating ten pounds
of this hay a day and he wants to khow how much of each of
these several ingredients is being eaten. He will simply mul-
tiply the figures in the column of analysis by ten and find at
once the amount as follows : —

Per cent. Hay eaten. Pounds of each

pounds. eaten.

Water 15.35 x 10 1.53

Ash 5.50 X 10 .55

Albuminoids 12.05 x 10 1.20 '

Crude fiber 25.99 x 10 2.59

Carbohydrates 37.63 x 10 3.76

Fat ....3.48 X 10 .35

That is, the ten pounds of hay contained a little more than
a pound and a half of water, a little more than two and a half
pounds of crude fiber, etc. If we want to know how much of
these the horse can use, we have only to multiply these last
figures once more, by the figures given in the column of di-
gestion coeflicients, thus : —

Pounds Per cent. Pounds digested

eaten. digested by the animal.

Albuminoids.. 1.20 x 63 0.75

Crude fiber 2.56 x 49 1.25

Carbohydrates 3.76 x 71 2.68

Fat 0.35 X 60 0.21

In the last column we see how much of the ten pounds of
clover hay the horse can use : three-quarters of a pound of
albuminoids; one and one-quarter pounds of crude fiber;
about two and two-thirds pounds of carbohydrates; and
nearly one-quarter pound of fat. In just the same manner
the horse-owner can work out the amounts digested with
other feeds.

If we want to know the nutritive ratio of the fodder, it can
now be easily found. First, fat is said to be worth two and a

THE FUNCTIONS AND COMPOSITION OF FOOD. 13

half times as much for feeding as the starchy portions of the
food. So we multiply the fat by this number, 0.21x23^ =
0.52 pounds. Add together now this fat, the crude fiber and
the carbohydrates, 0.52 + 1-25 + 2.68 = 4.45. Divide this last
bv the amount of albuminoids, 4.45 -r- 0.75 =5.93; that is,
the nutritive ratio is 1 : 5.93. By this we mean that for every
pound of albuminoids there are five and ninety-three hundredths
times as much other matter of the same feeding value as
starch, — that is, nearly six times as much carbonaceous as
nitrogenous matter.

After determining the relative proportions of the nutrients
in food, and their respective digestion values, it is next in
order to determine what may be called their energy value.
This, however concerns only the use of food for fuel. No way
has yet been devised to measure accurately its utility in build-
ing up th« body and repairing its wastes, but as fuel it can be
studied with almost the exactness of the mechanical engineer
in his determination of the energy developed by burning coal
under a boiler.

This has come to pass only within a few years, since the in-
vestigators began experiments with animals in the respiration
apparatus, to learn the proportions in which the several classes
of nutrients do work in serving as fuel in the body. At the
same time time experiments have been made with the calori
meter to determine the heats of combustion of the same ma-
terial. The results obtained with the respiration apparatus and
with the calorimeter have agreed very closely. That is to say,
in supplying the body with fuel, the protein, fat, and carbohy-
drates of the food have been found to replace each other in
almost exact proportion to their heats of combustion.

The unit commonly used is the Calorie, the amount of heat
that would raise the temperature of a kilogram of water one
degree centigrade (or a pound of water four degrees Fahren-
heit). The same word, calorie, but spelled with a small c, is
used to designate the heat required to raise the temperature of
a gram of water a degree. Oae Calorie is thus equal to 1,000
calories. Instead of this unit of heat we may use a unit of
mechanical energy, for instance the foot-ton, which is the
force that would lift one ton one foot. One Calorie corres-

14 HORSE FEEDING.

ponds very nearly to 1.53 foot-tons.

Taking ordinary food materials as they come, the folllowing
general estimate has been made for tne average amount of
energy in one gram of each of the classes of nutrients :

Potential Energy in Nutrients of Food.

Calories Foot-tons.

In one gram of protein 4.1 6.3

In one gram of fats 9.3 14.2

In one gram of carbohydrates 4.1 6.3

These figures mean that when a gram of fat, be it the fat of
the food or body-fat, is consumed in the body, it will, if its po-
tential energy be all transformed into heiUt, yield enough to
warm 9.3 kilograms of water one degree of the centigrade ther-
mometer, or if it be transformed into mechanical energy such
as the steam-engine or the muscles use to do their work, it will
furnish as much as would raise one ton 14.2 feet or 14.2 tons
one foot. A gram of protein or carbohydrates would yield a
little less than half as much energy as a gram of fat. In other
words when we compare the nutrients in respect to their fuel val-
ues, their capacities for yielding heat and mechanical power,
an ounce of protein is just about equivalent to an ounce of
carbohydrates ; and a little over two ounces of either would
be required to equal an ounce of fat. The potential energy in
the ounce of protein or carbohydrates would, if transformed
into heat, suffice to raise the temperature of 113 pounds of
water one degree Fahrenheit, while an ounce of fat, if com-
pletely burned in the body or in the calorimeter, would yield
as much heat as would warm over twice that weight of water
one degree. It would be wrong to assume that such figures as
these are absolutely accurate, but we are doubtless warranted
in using them with the distinct nndirstanding that they are
tentative and subject to such revision as future research shall
indicate.

The application of these figures to estimating the fuel values
of food is simple. A gram of digestible protein or a gram of
digestible carbohydrates is assumed to yield 4.1 and a gram of
digestible fat, 9.3 Calories of energy. A given weight of di-
gestible fat is thus taken to be equivalent in fuel value to 2.27

THE FUNCTIONS AND COMPOSITION OF FOOD. 15

(9.3 4.1 = 2.27) grams of digestible protein or carbo-
hydrates.

The potential energy or fuel value of a given quantity of
feeding stuff, or of a daily ration, is calculated by multiplying
the number of grams of digestible protein and of digestible
carbohydrates by 4.1 and the number of grams of digestible fat
by 9.3 and taking the sum of these three products as the num-
ber of Calories of potential energy in the materials. The
computation is made more convenient by taking each per cent,
of each nutrient as equivalent to one hundredth of a pound of
that ingredient in a pound of the feeding stuff and multiplying
by the number of Calories in .01 pound. As .01 pound equals
4.536 grams, .01 of a pound of protein or carbohydrates would
thus be assumed to yield (4.536x4.1 ) 18.6, and each .01 pound
of fats 42.2 Calories.

Applying this method of calculation to the figures given by
the German (Wolff's) standard for feeding moderately worked
horses of 1,000 lbs. weight, under which the daily ration would
contain 1.7 pounds of digestible protein, 10.4 pounds of digest-
ible carbohydrates, and 0 6 pounds of fats, we find that the
protein will yield 3,162 Calories, the carbohydrates 19,344, and
the fat 2,532, a total of 25,038 Calories.

Very likely further experiments may modify the figures now
used in these estimates, but if the general theory is correct one
important point at least i s established, viz. that in the matter
of fuel the protein, fats and carbohydrates are interchangeable.
In other words, different foods may have the same fuel value
though varying much in the relative proportions contained of
these ingredients. Or two foods with the same amount of pro-
tein and carbohydrates will vary much in fuel value if their fat
constituents vary much. Or two foods alike in fat and pro-
tein, but differing in carbohydrates, will have a correspondingly
different fuel value.

But though the proportions of the ingredients may vary and
yet pro(?uce similar results, it does not follow that there is no
limit to the variance possible. It might be inferred that a diet
all fat, or all carbohydrates, or all protein could be success-
fully used, but that is not the case. For example, a hungering
animal has been found to consume its own flesh and fat, the

16 HORSE. FEEDING.

nitrogen of the former re-appearing almost wholly in the urine,
and the fat in the exhalations from the lungs as carbonic acid
gas and water. If now a moderate amount of protein is fed,
the rate of loss of flesh is not materially lessened ; moreover,
the amount of excreted nitrogen in the urine is not only equal
to that preyiously found, but is increased by nearly the whole
of that in the added protein. Only by feeding protein in enormous
quantities can this loss of flesh be even temporarily prevented.

If under like conditions we try to feed fat alone, it neither
prevents nor lessons the loss of flesh, though the total amount
of fat in the body may be thereby increased. If long enough
continued, the animal dies. In a similar case by feeding exclu-
sively carbohydrates, the loss of flesh is lessened, but cannot
be entirely prevented. The carbohydrates serve, however, to
protect the fat of the body by suffering oxidization in its stead.
By combining fat and carbohydrates in such a case the loss of
flesh still continues. In fact experiment has conclusively
proved that only by feeding a combination of protein, fat, and
carbohydrates can an animal be kept for any length of time
without a loss of flesh or health.

Futhermore it must be remembered that circumstances may
vary somewhat the effect of all these theories in their applica-
tion. For instance, it has been found that the addition of
easily digestible food like potatoes and roots to other fodders
lowers the digestibility of the constituents of the latter. The
digestibility is not appreciably lowered, however, if the amount
of dry matter of the roots, etc., does not exceed 12 per cent, of
the whole amount. In case it amounts to quarter of the whole
amount, the digestibility of the protein, which is most seriously
affected, is lowered one-tenth ; if increased to two-thirds of the
total dry matter, the digestibility of the protein is lowered
one-fourth.

Again, German investigators have tested the digestibility of
diff"erent fodders with the various classes of animals, and for
horses, cows, and swine, for example, wide variations have
been found.

Further impediments are thrown in the way of exact meas-
urement and accurate deduction by the fact tl^at animals at
work exhale more carbonic acid gas and water than when at

THE FUNCTIONS AND COMPOSITION OF FOOD. 17

rest ; they exhale less of each in the dark than in the light ; an
exposure to low temperature has the same effect as labor ; the
radiation of heat from the animal varies as the surface, and
hence proportionately more food is required for four animals
weighing together one ton than for but two of the same total
weight ; excessive consumption of water leads to a greater ex-
cretion of nitrogen and consequent waste, and too much salt
leads to the same result.

These things are cited to show that feeding is by no means
an exact science. Nevertheless its principles have been deter-
mined with sufficient accuracy to warrant their general use,
and for all practical purposes it is safe to apply them as here
outlined to the questions in hand.

One omission will doubtless have been noticed in the fore-
going attempt to give a systematic method for valuing horse
foods. No standard has been set for the protein or albumin-
oid constituents in their function of making body material and
repairing wastes, i. e. in contradistinction to their fuel func-
tion. This omission has been due to the very nature of the
subject. Horses are not bred or kept for the profit to be de-
rived from the sale of their flesh, their hair, their hides, or
their milk. Therefore the use of food to these ends is not a
pertinent matter in this relation, and it is not thought necessary
to treat the protein elements in the food with scientific accur-
acy except so far as they are energy producers. In fact it is
almost wholly for his energy, his work, that we breed and feed
the horse. Provided, then, his food contains a reasonable
amount of protein and mineral elements, it will be satisfactory,
and as ordinary rations contain these, they need be referred to
only in a general way.

There is another theoretical aspect of food value, however,
that should be considered in detail before we proceed to the
discussion of individual foods. That is its fertilizing aspect.
In other words, the science of feeding demands not only the
determination of the value of foods as foods, but also their
value as manure. And that the subject may not be treated in
detail again, let us here, though at the risk of digression, con*
sider the manure question both theoretically and practically.

To be sure, many of the fourteen million horses in the United

18 HORSE FEEDING.

States are not kept even secondarily for the value of this bye-
product, but just as many, probably more, are owned by people
to whom fertilizing material has a considerable cash value.
Every horse owner who cultivates land is concerned to see that
his manure heap is as valuable as he can make it. To him the
question of economy in horse feeding is not settled when he
has learned the direct values of various foods in furtiishingj
horse material and horse energy. He should go further and
learn how much of these values he can utilize again as manure.

The importance of the matter can be seen by the considera-
tion of a single statement, which will surprise many readers,
viz. that at least one feeding material is actually worth more
when transformed into manure than it cost in the first place,
and there are several materials that go through, feed, and
maintain animals, and are then worth for fertilizing purposes
more than half what they cost as food. As we spend nearly a
billion dollars a year in maintaining our horses and mules,
there is an enormous money investment at stake in this matter
of manure.

A great deal of it is wasted through being excreted on the
highway, but much more of it goes into the manure heap.

Tests made at one of the experiment stations with nine
horses, two of them light driving horses and the rest grade
Percheron horses of from 1200 to 1400 pounds weight, showed
the average amount of solid and liquid excrement voided in 24
hours to be 56 % pounds. Upon analysis this was found to
contain 0.51 per cent, of nitrogen, 0.21 per cent, of phosphoric
acid, and 0.53 per cent, of potash. At the price of commercial
fertilizers this percentage of nitrogen in a ton of manure was
worth, at 17 cts. a lb., $1.73; of phosphoric acid, at 7 cts. a
lb., $0.29 ; of potash, at 4 cts., $0.43 ; a total of $2.45.

From 75 to 80 per cent, of the manurial valne of food is re-
covered in the manure. In other words, from one-fifth to
one-quarter goes into the making of tissue, bone, etc., oris
expended as fuel, and the rest is excreted. Leaving this out
of account, for the sake of exactness, it was found by the New
York experimenters that the value of the fertilizing elements'
in 12 hays when averaged amounted to 63 per cent of their
cost; of 9 straws, to 66 per cent. ; 6 green foods, 60 per cent. ;

THE FUNCTIONS AND COMPOS^TIO^f OF FOOD. 19

5 roots, 30 per cent. ; 7 grains, 24 per cent. ; 12 mill feeds, 53
per cent. Assuming that a quarter is lost, the conclusion is
that hay at $11 a ton will yield manure worth about $5 ; grain
at $30 a ton, manure worth $5.40, and so on.

These figures differ somewhat from those of Director H. P.
Armsby of the Pennsylvania Experiment Station, who finds
even more importance in the manure question.. In his report
for 1890 he gave the following table which shows the manurial
value, not of equal weights of the_ditferent crops, but of an
equal number of dollars worth at average prices : —

Manure Value of $10 Worth.

* Meadow hay, $5.10

Timothy hay. 5 99

Hungarian hay, 6.10

Clover hay, 9.07

Bran, 7.78

Wheat, 2.58

Barley 2.96

Oats, 3.86

Corn, 3.78

Cotton-seed meal, 10.12

Oil meal, 7.54

Potatoes .12

Milk, 88

Butter, 01

Cheese 69

Skim milk, 41

It is clear, then, that in examining the various foods individu-
ally it will be worth while to note tne manure value of each,
as indicated by its nitrogenous and mineral constituents.

Let it be noticed in passing that it pays to care for th®
manure heap. The manure gathered in the New York test
referred to above shrank after six months exposure from 529
pounds to 372 pounds, almost 30 per cent. Besides this there
was gain in the percentage of water and a loss in the percent-
age of valuable fertilizing elements. A ton of manure worth
$2.45 when fresh, would nave been worth only $1.42 after six
months exposure, a loss of 42 per cent. Other tests were made,
the results of the season's work seeming to show that horse
manure thrown in a loose pile and subjected to the action of

20 HORSE FEEDING.

the elements will lose nearly one-half of Jts valuable fertilizing
constituents in the course of six months ; that mixed horse
and cow manure in a compact mass and so placed that all water
falling upon it quickly runs through and off is subjected to a
considerable, though not so great loss ; and that no appreciable
loss takes place when manure simply dries.

THE VARIOUS FOODS. 21

CHAPTER II.
The Various Foods.

Proceeding to the separate examination of the foods custom-
arily and occasionally given to horses, we naturally take up
hay first, for although perhaps in the stables of the land grain
plays the more important part, in the barn it is the hay that is
foremost, and the barns outnumber the stables ten to one, — yes
a hundred to one.

Taking into account all kinds of stall-fed animals, hay is the
most economical food, as it is the commonest, but its worth is
not appreciated. The New York Experiment Station has dem-
onstrated that its food value is nearly half as large again as its
cost, whereas the food value of grain is only three-quarters of
its cost ; and that a hundred dollars' worth of good hay will
upon the average furnish half more digestible food than one
hundred dollars' worth of mill feed upon the average, besides
ten dollars' worth more of fertilizing materials. The conclu-
sion is, that for twenty-five years at least, hay and straw have
been worth, as sources of animal and plant food, at least twice
their market prices, and if to anybody to the farmer himself,
who has animals and fields both needing these supplies of food.
Furthermore, on the average the grain foods barely return in
food and fertilizing material an equivalent of their market
value, and this is due to the relatively high prices they com-
mand in the market. And finally, for the past twenty-five
years, the average amount of hay which could be bought for
ten dollars in New York, has contained an amount of nitrogen,
phosphoric acid, and potash that was worth $6.37, so that the
farmer has sold an average of fifteen dollars' worth of food for
$3.63, and while this has been going on, many million dollars'
worth of commercial fertilizers have been bought in that state
alone.

22 HORSE FEEDING.

The following table gives the result of the analysis of various
grasses and hays, as made by the New York State Experiment
Station. Let the reader recall that ash means the mineral
element; let albuminoids remind him of lean meat, the white
of an egg, or gluten, the gummy part of wheat; let him re-
member that nitrogen-free extract and carbohydrates are the same
thing, sugar and starch being their purest forms ; and let him
think of paper when he sees the term crude Uber. The figures
represent the percentage, or may be taken as the number of
pounds of each in 100 lbs. of the food. To illustrate, take the
first, Timothy grass ; the table means that in 100 pounds of
this green grass there were found 57 31-100 pounds of water,
2 8-100 lbs. of ash, 3 23-100 lbs. of albuminoids, and the same
for all the other parts. Remember that the coefficient of digest-
ibility is the digestible percentage of any given element of the
food. The table styled Per cent. Digestible Matter is
found by bringing the figures in Table B to bear on those in
Table A, and shows the number of pounds of digestible matter
in 100 pounds of the various foods : j

Table A. j

Grasses^ Clover^ etc.^ Water Ash Album- Crude Carbohy- Fat

in bloom. inoids fiber drates

Timothy, 1887 57.31 2.08 3.23 13.38 22.64 1.361

Timothy, 1888 67.09 1.412.50 11. .54 16 36 1.101;

Timothy, seed formed. 48. 14 2.25 3.28 18.16 26.72 1.45 i,

Orchardgrass 71.48 2.14 2.65 10.23 12.29 1.21 ;l

Ky. blue or June grass 58.76 2.03 3.18 13.29 21.27 1.47 'i

Meadow Fescue 68.70 1.97 2.44 10.93 14.82 1.141

Tall Meadow oat 69.46 1.73 2.60 10.63 14.38 1.20 (

Meadow Foxtail 72.63 1.713.12 8.66 12.72 1.16^

Fort Bellingham 62.58 2.35 3.33 12.49 17.96 1.29 1

Wood Meadow grass.. 55. 55 2.16 2.86 16.29 21.82 1.32^

Bennett's Native Wild. 57.62 1.88 3.31 16.30 19.44 1.45 »

Sweet Vernal grass. ..67.41 1.57 2.10 10.74 17.02 1.16 i<

Ox-eye daisies 78 46 1.59 1.28 5.62 12.16 .89 ^

Buttercups 79 20 1.45 1.56 6.24 10.56 .99 <

Medium red clover 68 34 2.05 4.51 9.77 14.03 1.30 t

Alsike clover 77.29 1.95 3.66 5 32 10.76 1.02 ^

White clover 78.23 1.79 4.42 4.70 9.44 1.42 t

Bokharaclover G9.20 1613.52 13.12 11.45 1.10 t

Lucerne or Alfalfa.... 67.46 2.95 5.91 10.51 12.02 1.15 »

Yellow trefoil 78.52 1.37 3.40 6.31 9.29 1.11 j

THE VARIOUS FOODS.

23

Chess or cheat 60.35

Hays

Timothy in bloora 15 35

Timothy in seed 15.35

Orchard grass 15.35

Mixed hays 14 80

Red clover in bloom . . . 15.35

Alsike clover 15. .35

Clover rowen 14. 33

Lucerne or Alfalfa 15.02

1.85 3.17 13.05 20.46

1.12

4.16 6.59

26 88

44 33

2.69

3.65 5.34

29.95

43.65

2.36

6.13 8.12

31.14

35.73

3.53

4.92 637

32.30

39.15

2.46

5.50 12.05

25.99

37 63

3.48

6.55 11.44

24.95

38.37

3.34

6.23 11.08

2S.80

36.36

3.20

6.69 13.81

27.28

34.97

2.26

Table B.

Coefficients of Digestibility.
Food. Dry Albu- Crude Carbo- Fat Determina-

Sub- mi- fiber hy- tion made by

stance noids drates

Timothy 65.7 60.4 62.1 718 51.5 Jordon

Timothy 54.1 55.5 51.7 61.0 34.6 Jordon

Timothy — 42.1 52.0 65.7 47.6 Jordon

Timothy 51.6 45.2 42.8 58 9 55.0 Jordon

Orchard grass... .60.0 60.0 66.7 57.3 57.4 N.Y.Ex. Sta.

Orchard grass... .57.5 60.9 60.0 55.3 55.4 N.Y.Ex. Sta.

Orchard grass... .54.4 58.5 57.5 54 4 51.2 Jordon

Red top 57.6 60.4 61.2 59.1 44.2 Jordon

Witch grass 59.9 64.2 67.6 62.1 60.0 Jordon

Wild oat grass... 59. 6 48.6 65.1 62.1 38.2 Jordon

Bluejoint 39.9 565 36.5 43.2 37.0 Jordon

Mixed hay — 49.0 49.0 58.0 50.0 Sturtevant

Mixedhay 54 3 46 9 46.8 55.8 50.0 N.Y.Ex.Sta.

Clover hay (red). 51. 7 49.4 47.5 57.6 42.6 Armsby

Alfalfa hay 59 4 68.8 43.3 71.8 48.4 N.Y.Ex. Sta.

Alfalfa hay — 77.0 49.0 64.0 54.0 O'Brine

Al*ike clover 619 64.0 510 74.1 35.1 Jordon

White clover.... 66.0 73.2 60.6 69.5 50.6 Tordou

Buttercup 56.1 56 3 41.1 66.9 69.7 Jordon

White weed 57.8 58.4 45.5 66.7 62.0 Jordon

Table C.
Showing Per Cent. Digestible Matter.

Grasses^ etc. Dry

Mat-
ter

Timothy (in bloom) . . 18.33

Tim'thy (seed form'd) 28.88

Orchard grass 16.11

Kentucky blue 23.65

Medium red clover. . .16 37

Albu-

Crude

Carbo-

Fat Nutri-

mi-

fiber

hy-

tive

noids

drates

ratio

1.22

5.75

10.26

.54 1:14.2

160

9.06

16 75

.71 1:10.9

1.56

6.19

6.79

.65 1:9.4

1.92

8.13

12.57

.65 1 :11.1

2.23

4.64

8.08

.55 1:6 3

24 HORSE FEEDING.

Alsike clover 12.87 2.11 2.52 7.17 .50 1:5.1

Lucerne or Alf alia... 19.32 4.06 4.55 8.63 .56 1:3.6

Timothy (in bloom).. 47. 15 3.21 13.38 27.79 1.32 1:13.9
Tim'thy(seedform'jd)47.15 2.60 14.76 26.37 1.16 1:16.9

Orchard grass 47.83 5.28 18.53 19.66 1.90 1:8.1

Mixed hays... 46.26 3.05 15.47 22.47 1.23 1:13.4

Red clover 43.76 5.95 12.36 21.67 1.48 1:6.3

Alsike clover 48.00 6.59 11.82 25.55 1.62 1:6.3

( The nutritive ratio is the ratio of the albuminoids to the
total of the crude fiber, carbohydrates and fat, counting the fat
as two and a half times more valuable than the fiber and carbo-
hydrates.)

Table D.
Manure Value of Hays.
(Figures show number lbs. in one ton, 2000 lbs. )
Phos- Potash Soda Lime Mag- Ni-
phor- nesia tro-

icAcid gen.

Timothy 5.0 27.5 4.4 7.2 1.7 21.0

Orchard grass 8.2 38.5 4.7 8.3 2.0 22.0

Kentucky blue grass 7.3 29.2 — 4.0 1.3 21.1

Meadow oat grass 6.4 34.4 5.5 7.0 1.5 23.2

Meadow foxtail 8.8 43.8 9.5 8.4 2.4 30.8

Medium red clover 5.2 22.4 9.6 33.2 4.6 38.6

Alsike clover 7.5 48.5 — 37.6 6.5 36.5

Alfalfa 9.3 27.8 1.7 54.6 3.2 40.2

( This table also has a bearing on the relative value of hays
in the formation of bone. )

i

Table E.
Food Value of Hays.
( New York Experiment Station Calculation).
< Market Food Fertiliz- Total Total

value value ing value value value
per ton per ton per ton per ton per

cent of
cost

Timothy #11.00 $14.80 $4.47 $23.59 176.

Orchard grass 11.00 14.86 6.08 25.28 190.

Kentucky blue grass. 11.00 14.68 4.85 23.82 178.

Tall meadow oat grass 11.00 14.68 5.26 24.23 182.

Meadow foxtail 11.00 13.82 7.08 24.93 189.

Meadow fescue 11.00 14.47 5.07 23.76 178.

$15.54

15.00

425.21

187.

14.70

5.38

24.37

201.

13.96

7.25

26.58

278.

16.39

9.40

30.58

234.

15.52

8.07

28.12

295.

15.64

7.96

28.17

236.

THE VARIOUS FOODS. 25

Hungarian grass $11.00

Mixed grass 10.00

Red clover 8.00

White clover 11.00

Alsike clover 8.00

Alfalfa 10.00

Study of the foregoing tables will show that although hays
do not on the whole differ enough to make the choice a very
serious matter, yet the figures have a significance. For instance.
Table D shows clearly the superior value of clover as a bone
maker for young stock, and the inferiority of timothy as a
manure producer. Table C shows that timothy and Kentucky
blue grass are the best fatteners, alfalfa and clover the best
muscle makers. The careful student can draw many other
conclusions.

Practical feeders differ somewhat as to which is the best hay
for horses. Many argue with Dr. Michener that it is timothy.
Others think that Kentucky blue grass deserves its reputation.
Still others argue for clover, and their arguments deserve con-
sideration. They point to the superiority of clover in its
mineral elements, those that go to make the bone ; and its al-
buminous elements, those that go to make the muscles and the
flesh. They urge that it makes the best manure ; that it comes
nearer a perfect ration complete within itself than any other
crop ; that it can be most cheaply produced ; that it is both a
summer and winter food ; and that it develops most rapidly and
economically the whole animal structure. But even the friends
of clover admit that blue grass should not be discarded, and
that it is very valuable for early and late pasture and feeding
lots. They urge merely that its importance has been over-
estimated.

It would, however, appear that the choice between the various
hays is affected by various considerations. We have seen that
age is one factor. Work is another. Farm horses and all
heavy workers need the fat making hays. Roadsters, trotters,
and thoroughbreds do best on the hays where the proportion of
albuminoids is greater. Then, too, the horse owner raising
his own hay has the circumstances of his farm and his location
to take into account. He finds timothy commended to him by

26 HORSE FEEDING.

its habit of growth and productiveness. He finds that blue
grass is not fitted to produce a good hay crop in the east,
though furnishing excellent pasturage when well mixed with
other grasses ; through the Mississippi and Ohio valleys it is a
general favorite. If he wants to renovate his soil, clover is
rightly his preference. Alfalfa is getting to be better known
and better liked through all the country, though here and there
criticism of it is heard. Marvin, for instance, says his expe-
rience with it has not been satisfactory. ''It does very well, " |
he writes, " for brood-mares and youngsters ; but it is a washy \
grass and affects the kidneys of the horses in training. At j
least such has been my experience. Alfierella, commonly |
called filaree, is a rank growing grass that horses are very fond I
of, and that I consider preferable to alfalfa for turf horses. '[
The natural wild-oat of California provides excellent forage, ;
aud animals take much to burr-clover after it is ripe and dry." 1

All agree that any hay should be crisp, clean, fresh, with a (
sweet, pleasant smell. It is best fed when not less than one i
year nor more than two years old. New hay is hard to digest ;
and produces much slobbering and sometimes purging and ir- \
ritation of the skin. If new hay is fed at all, it should be ;
mixed with old. When hay is kept too long, it loses part of i
it« nourishment, and although it may not be positively injuri- j
ous, it is hard, dry, and less digestible. Second crop or after- J
math is not held to be good hay for horses. ^1

The value of hay depends on the time in cutting, as well as J
the care in curing. It ought to be cut when in full flower, j
but before the seeds fall ; if left longer, it becomes dry, woody, j
and lacking in nutrition. The analysis at the New York Ex- '\
periment Station showed that timothy cut after the seeds had i^
formed contained 10.2 lbs. less of ash in the ton than that cut ';
when in full bloom ; 25 lbs. less of albuminoids ; 13.6 lbs. less \
of carbohydrates; 6.6 lbs. less of fat; and 55.4 lbs. more of j
crude fibre. Evidently there was serious loss in both nutri- j
tive and digestible value. If Hungarian grass or millet is j
allowed to ripen before cutting, a great deal of the nutriment <'
goes into the seed, thereby making the stems a sort of straw i
rather than real hay. It will be a little more difficult to make 1
hay of grass cut so early as this, but it will cure in the cock \

xriE VARIOUS FOODS. 27

for the most part. The result should be a first-class hay with
uo danger whatever from the seed.

It is important to keep hay in the field as short a time as
possible after it is cut. Smith asserts that one hour more in
the sun than is necessary results in a loss of from 15 to 20 per
cent, in the feeding value. On the other hand, hay spoils in
the mow or rick when harvested too green or not dried enough.
When from this cause it has become " mow-burnt," it has a
very brown color, and will probably be here and there blotched
with verv dark seams, almost black, runnini? through the mow
or rick, showing how very nearly it has come to getting on fire.
Hay that has so suffered always has an over-sweet, sickly
smeFi, and there are many people who, knowing no better,
suppose that because of this sweet smell such hay is necessarily
very good. Horses will eat it greedily, and so the idea gains
ground. But such hay is not fit food for horses at all. It
affects their kidneys and bowels, causes them to fall off in con-
dition, and may, if fed continuously, produce serious disease.

Hay should be neither too brittle nor too dusty. If dusty, it
should be dampened before feeding.

Bad hay and the bad use of hay cause many of the ailments
of horses. For instance, musty or mouldy hay has often been
said to produce that peculiar disease known variously as cere-
bro-spinal meningitis, putrid sore throat, or choking distemper.
To the same cause is often due the disease known as broken
wind, or heaves. Spooner, writing in 1842, said : "The imme-
diate cause of broken wind is obviously the circumstance of
sudden exertion on a full stomach. In proportion to the indi-
gestible nature of food is the disease likely to occur. Thus,
musty and damaged hay is a very frequent cause ; and this hay
being frequently given to agricultural horses accounts in great
measure for the disease being more frequent with them than
with any others. Nimrod, the celebrated sporting writer, says
the disease is extremely rare in France, where he now resides ;
and this he attributes to the fact of sweet straw being gener-
ally used instead of hay, particularly amongst farm horses.''

Professor Williams, of Edinburgh, says : " To give my own
opinion I have no hesitation in asserting that broken wind is
generally due to improper food, more particularly to bad,

28 HORSE FEEDING.

musty, or coarse nay, containina^ a large quantity of woody
fiber, from'being allowed to become too ripe before being cut,
and to a superabundant allowance of hay of any kind, with an
insufficient supply of corn."

Dr. Smith, of Toronto, says : " A common cause is from rid-
ing or driving fast immediately after feeding, or drinking a
large quantity of water. It is also produced by feeding on
dusty clover hay ; it is also a sequel of some of the diseases of
the air passages, and of the chest."

Professor Law, of Cornell University, says : " The causes of
heaves are overfeeding on clover hay, chaff, cut straw, and
other bulky and innutritious foods. In Arabia, in Spain, and
in California, where there is no long winter feeding on hay,
and in our Territories, where clover is not used, heaves is vir-
tually unknown; it has advanced westward just in proportion
as clover hay has been introduced as the general fodder for
horses, and it has disappeared in England, and in New Eng-
land, in proportion as the soil has become clover sick, and as
other aliment had to be supplied. The worst conditions are
when a horse is left in the stable for days and weeks eating
clover hay, or even imperfectly cured, dusty hay of other
kinds, to the extent of thirty pounds and upwards daily, and is
suddenly taken out and driven at a rapid pace."

Not alone for the reasons suggested in these extracts, but
for others equally potent, it has come to be the general opinion
that less hay should be fed. Chief ampng them is the fact that
the horse has but one stomach, and a small one at that. Cattle
and sheep are ruminants, chew the cud, and have four stom-
achs. They are the animals that can make the best use of
coarse, bulky food. The horse makes poorer use of it, and
when it is his chief ration his stomach gets so distended as to
make him clumsy and hard of motion. This result is seen in
the spiritless horses of many of our hay-feeding farmers. Even
when horses are at light work, if kept entirely on hay they
soon become pot-bellied, fall off in flesh, and do not thrive.
Unless colts are fed some grain, they grow up to be long, lean,
and awkward, never making as good horses as those that have
not been restricted in food to grass and hay.

Therefore the rule is laid down that the average horse,

THE VARIOUS FOODS. 29

getting grain, should be allowed from 10 to 12 pounds of good
hay a day, fed once or twice.

Grass and Green Forage.— Although grass is the nat-
ural food for horses, little need be said of it, for under present
conditions it is seldom eaten except in the pasture. There the
horse can look out for himself. It is true, though at first
glance it may seem strange, that none of the grasses will suflSce
for horses at work. Consideration will show that while grass
is the natural food, work is not the natural condition of the
horse. It is an artificial condition, forced on him by the needs
of man, and must be met in artificial ways. Therefore it is
that horses fed on grass soon tire on the road or at hard work
in the field. They are soft, sweat easily, and purge. Never-
theless, grass is almost indispensible during the period of
growth, and any horse will profit by being turned out to pasture
now and then. Inasmuch as grass acts as an alterative on
horses accustomed to grain and hay, when it is fed caution
should be used at first. If cut for the horse, it should be
fed fresh or but slightly wilted. Professor Michener says
that during febrile diseases grass acts almost as a medicine,
lessening the fever and favoring recovery ; and some chronic
diseases, chronic cough, for instance, disappear^entirely when
the suff'erer is at grass.

Green forage is very cooling in hot weather, but should
always be given quite fresh. Beans and peas may be mixed
with the corn where horses are doing hard work, especially
after they come in from a long day.

Straw, Fodder, Etc.— It is not easy to classify further
the bulky horse foods, for popular usage of the terms does not
agree with the botanical sub-divisions. Already we have wan-
dered from the strictly scientific course by mentioning clover
under the head of hay and grass. The fact is that fresh clover
is not the one and dried clover is not the other. Clover is a
plant of the pulse family, the botanical order known as leg-
uminosce, and is allied to peas, beans, etc. All farmers, how-
ever, think of it and treat it as a grass or a hay, and for ail
practical purposes that is legitimate. The scientific phase of
the case, nevertheless, is to be remembered when you notice
clover later on in a table of the food value of straws.

30 HORSE FEEDING.

There is another term inexactly used. Ordinarily we think
of straw as the dried stems of such cereals as wheat and oats.
But the name is also applied to maize, peas, beans, etc.

* • Fodder " is a still more uncertain term. It may mean any or
all of the food material supplied by man to domestic herbivorous
animals. It may include hay or roots. Where to distinguish
between it and forage is not clear. But for our purposes these
terms may in the main be confined to such grasses or plants as
are commonly known as hay or straw.

Maize stover is the name now accepted for the stover, stalks,
or straw of corn, being what remains after the ears of ripe
corn have been removed ; it has been generally known as corn
fodder. On the other hand, ladder corn denotes the product
when corn is grown as a fodder, whether harvested when
mature or at an earlier stage of growth ; fodder corn contains
the ears if such are formed. Maize stover is best classified as a
fodder.

The straws are not much fed to horses in America, but
abroad they are commonly mixed wtth hay, and are coming to
be used more here, especially on the farm. So it is worth
while to note their composition. Analyses have shown it to be
as follows :

Water Ash Albu- Crude Carbo- Fat

mi- fiber hy-

noids drates

Wheat straw 17.86 4.16 2.9S 42.74 31.04 1.22

Oat straw 16.28 4.83 2.35 36.77 37.97 1.80

Maize stover (field cured)49. 01 3.62 3.2.5 18.78 24.13 1.21

Maize stover (in barn)... 22.63 5.35 6.47 28.43 35.87 1.25

The per cents of digestible matter are ;

Dry Albu- Crude Carbo- Fat Nutri-

mat- mi- fiber hy- tive

ter noids dratps ratio

Wheat straw .77 22.22 12.42 .33 1:46

Oat straw 42.11 .42 21.18 20 20 .69 1:102.3

Maize stover(f'ldcur'd)31. 61 1.64 12.49 15.08 .76 1:17 9

Maize stover(b'rnc'rd) 47.97 3.26 18.91 22.42 .78 1:13 3

The analyses of both the wheat and oat straw were of sam-
ples from field stacks ; hence the water percentage is somewhat
higher than for similar straw that has been protected from the

THE VARIOUS FOODS. 31

weather. Wheat straw is held to be less valuable for feeding
than good oat straw, one reason being that the grain is allowed
to ripen before being harvested and so the straw becomes more
Woody. Oat straw, too, is more easily digested. The maize
stover contains more of the albuminoids than either the wheat
or oat straw, and shows a larger percentage of digestibility in
respect to all the valuable elements. Its worth as fodder has
not been recognized as it should be.

Comparison of the analyses of straw and hay will show that
straw is inferior both in albuminoids and carbohydrates.
Therefore more bulk must be consumed to get the same benefit.
That is why straw is less advantageously fed to horses than to
other stock. Yet when horses are idle, as in the case with
most farm horses in the winter, the straw-stack can be utilized
with economy and without harm. The horses come to like it,
but will do so the quicker if at first a little salt water is sprink-
led over it.

When used to mix with hay, it will be wise to choose that
hay which contains in excess the elements in which straw is
deficient. Clover, on account of its abundance of nitrogen,
answers the best. A ton of clover properly mixed with a ton
of straw will equal in feeding value two tons of timothy. Cut
straw and bran form a better ration than either alone. Straw
can be used, too, with great advantage when roots are fed.
The English custom, when mixing hay and straw, is to take
two parts of hay and one of straw. It should be remembered
that only clean, bright straw is nutritious, and that which is
mouldy and weather-stained should be used for littering.

It will be interesting to note before leaving the subject what
one of our best writers on the horse, "Aurelius," has said of
straw. In discussing the food of colts he wrote: "I have
learned to value wheat straw as well as skim milk. If wheat
straw be cut when the berry is ripe, but before it is old and
dry, before the sap and green have left the stalk and the straw
has become woody, I may say that the grain will not only
make better flour, but the stalks or straw will make excellent
feed, nutritious and healthy, which the stock will eat readily.
It would be better than half the hay which is fed to city
horses, gathered after it has been wet, and which is productive

32 HOKSE FEEDING.

of the heaves. With such wheat straw, and with skim milk
and with ground oats and bran, with carrots every day, I would
run my risk of getting a colt into condition to exhibit any
where."

Another writer testifies : " A short time ago a valuable horse,
an imported draft stallion, was fed all the hay he would eat
with dire result. It took an experienced horseman months to
correct the mischief done by a season's stuffing with hay.
Since that severe lesson I have had constantly the care of work-
horses and have found that fully as good results in feeding j
were had where good bright straw, of which the animals ate !
little, was used for roughness and variety, but no greater quan- -j
tity of grain was fed than when hay was a large and constant •
part of the diet." :

A writer from Iowa says: "The teams we are working this J
winter are keeping in good flesh on oat-straw three times a day i
and two quarts of corn twice a day. The fact of the matter is, )
under our conditions we can keep a brood mare cheaper than I
we can keep a cow, and we can raise a good draft colt as cheap ]
as we can raise a steer."

Maize stover ( or corn fodder) is a better feed for horses than \
is commonly supposed. But it must be bright and well cured, i
It should neither be left standing for months in the fields nor '
be storecl in the barn loft while damp, and there allowed to ;
mould and rot. In either case it then becomes both unpalata- :
ble and unhealthy. Properly harvested, cured and kept, horses !
are very fond of it. On account of its excess of fat making '
materials it is best used as a winter food, when the horses are i
comparatively idle, and at such times it can be safely and i
economically substituted for much of the hay ration, especially !
if fed* with clover or some other highly nitrogenous food, i
There is much difference in its quality, and some varieties are j
relished much more than others. Fodder from sweet corn is ]
always eaten with greater apparent relish than the common |
field variety or that grown from large Western corn. |

Analyses of corn fodder show that nearly half of the dry \
matter is contained in the ears, and of this one fifth is in the j
cob. The leaves and husks contain one-third of the total, and I
there is three times as much of the remainder in the butt, or ]

I

THE VARIOUS FOODS. 33

harder and tougher part, as in the tops . When fodder is fed
whole there is more or less waste of the butts by the animal.
From the results it would seem that this loss would be from
ten to fifteen pounds in every 100 pounds of dry matter. Prac-
tical experience proves that much of this may be saved by
cutting up the cured fodder or putting it in the silo.

An Ohio breeder, who has been experimenting with timothy,
clover, and corn fodder, sums up his experience as follows:
"Last summer we made considerable clover hay, cured it nicely
and put it in the barn. We also put up some timothy, of which
we fed until late in the Fall, saving a part to feed this Spring
when the horses will have hard work to do. We began feeding
the clover hay in November, and continued the practice most
all the time till the first of March ; but for some reason the
horses did not do as well as they should. Their coats became
dry and rough, and they did not seem to relish their ration.

" We had occasionally to give them a feed of corn fodder or
timothy hay to dry up the slabbers, one of them slabbering
so bad at times that nothing would do her any good' but a
change in her feed. We fed the hay because we had plenty of
it in the barn, and it can scarcely be given away in these parts
at present; also we didn't need to bestow so much labor upon
our corn fodder to save it.

"For a while now we have been feeding corn fodder, and
although the fodder is not as bright and clean as it should be
(for there isn't much good fodder this Spring) our horses
relish it exceedingly, doing considerably better with less grain
ration than when we fed clover hay. Their appetites have im-
proved, their hair and skin are becoming soft and smooth, and
they are gaining remarkably in flesh. For several Winters
previous to this we have been feeding corn fodder to our
horses with good results ; they come out in the Srping with
better wind for hard work than when fed on most any other
food.

" Some farmers object to feeding fodder in the stable. They
say it leaves too many stalks to deal with, but if they take a
little time each evening just before their feeding and clean out
the stalks that have accumulated, throwing them in a lot for
the reception of corn stalks, waste straw and everything else

34 HORSE FEEDING.

that helps to increase the manure heap, the matter is remedied.

''The awkwardness some feeders display when putting in:
fodder to the horses is enough to make the bystander's eyes*
water, especially if said bystander 'knows how.' Some will
take a bunch of fodder nine feet long and try to put it in a
manger 4 % feet long. And this is easily done if you under-
stand how. Place the left arm under the bunch two-thirds of
the way from the butts, with the right arm over the centre, and
break ; then it will just fill the manger nicely.

"There is no better supplement to short pastures during the
latter part of Summer and early Fall than well-grown succulent
corn fodder cut just as the ears are coming into milk, and fed
green. Most broodmares and young stock are very fond of it.
Stowell's ever-green sweet corn gives the best satisfaction of
any we have ever tried. It is a vigorous grower, tender and
sweet."

Waldo F. Brown, another Ohio farmer, says : —

" I have found that I could winter a full-grown cow or horse
on the fodder from an acre of good corn, and the cost of saving
this acre and putting it in the barn is usually less than half a
ton of hay would sell for ; and when hay is high, a quarter ton
will sell for enough to pay it. As an example of the economy
of corn fodder as compared with hay, I will give the figures of
my last year's crop. I grew 12 acres of corn, and it cost me $18
to have it put in shock at 6 cents a shock of 120 hills each. To
husk it and bind the fodder in bundles cost 8 cents a shock or
$24 for the 300 shocks, but from this we deduct 3 cents a bushel
for husking 500 bushels of corn, which reduces the net cost to
$9. It took three days for two hands and a team to put this
fodder into the barn, which at regular wages for such work
would be $10, making the entire cost of this fodder in the barn
$37. We wintered on this six horses and four cows, and from
Sept. 1 to March 1 ( six months ) did not feed a pound of hay.
The first of March our fodder was gone, and in the following
six weeks the stock ate hay that would have sold for more
money than the fodder had cost me, and were not in as good
condition as when we made the change in food.

"To get the best results from corn fodder it must be well
cured and put into the barn early, and then fed in a warm

THE VARIOUS FOODS. 36

'stable in racks or mangers so arranged that none of it will be
wasted. If fodder is left in the field until mid-winter or spring,
and then fed on the ground with cattle tramping over it, it usu-
ally does not pay for handling. It should be cut about the
time the ears begin to glaze — which in my latitude is usually
from the first to the middle of September. Set the shocks up
firmly and tie the tops securely so they will stand, and just as
soon as the corn is dry enough for the crib, husk it. bind the
fodder in medium sized bundles, and store it at once in the
barn. I have proved by many years' observation that corn
can be cribbed about three weeks earlier from the shock than if
left on the stalk without cutting up. We usually crib all our
corn in October, escaping cold and snow, which so often
trouble in November.

" Counting that my horses and cattle would have eaten only
12 pounds of hay each a day, my $37 worth of fodder saved
nearly 11 tons of hay — or to be exact, 21,600 pounds, and 1
sold the hay for $10 a ton."

Care must be used in letting horses have access to corn-
stalks, to see that they are not affected by the corn-stalk dis-
ease. The same germ that causes this disease will bring death
to horses as well as to cattle. The disease on the corn-stalk is
usually apparent after midsummer and appears as brown spots
on the part of the leaf nearest the stalk. These spots are dead
and vary in size from that of pin-heads to several inches, and
in these the microscopic organism is always to be found. Usu-
ally the diseased corn is confined to clearly marked areas — not
infrequently in low places recently broken from the sod of
wild grasses. Sometimes instead of being confined locally,
scattered stalks throughout a field may be affected, while in
rare cases it may be evenly distributed over all the field. Af-
fected corn presents a stunted appearance. The lower leaves
prematurely die, and this is more especially the case if the
plant becomes invaded when quite young. In cases where
large stalks are found affected the invasion usually takes place
after the plant has attained a more or less mature growth.

A Minnesota farmer gives his experience with flax straw :
''Last winter I fed flax straw to my stallions, mares and colts,
also to sheep and cows, with good results. The machine left

36 HORSE FEEDING. j

about three bushels of seed in each ton of straw. I feed hay j

once each day to all, and a very small feed of oats to my work ;

horses and stallions twice each day. All my stock came ?

through the winter fat and fine." |

Another says : " My neighbors here raise a good deal of flax, j

and some of our best stockmen tell me that stock of all kinds eat }

it with a relish after they get used to it, and do better on good \

flax straw than on any other straw. We hear of no bad results j
from its use with brood mares."

Chaff cannot be so unreservedly approved. Indeed, wheat I

and rye chaff should never be used as food for horses. The j

beards frequently get lodged in the mouth or throat, and make ■

more or less serious trouble. In the stomach and intestines j

they often serve as the nucleus of dangerous soft concretions, j

Oat chaff, if fed in small quantities and mixed with cut hay or ;

corn fodder, is not so objectionable and is very much relished \

by horses. It is not to be given in large quantities, lest it cause ■

the troublesome and sometimes fatal diarrhcea that follows free J

access to a pile of oat chaff. '

The New York Experiment Station calculation of the food '■

value of straws is as follows: I

Market Food Fertil- Total Total ?!

value value izing value value per j

per ton per ton value per ton cent, of I
per ton cost

Oat straw $9.00 $14,04 $3.20 $21.34 192.

Wheat 9.00 13.53 2.01 19.49 172. :'

Rye 11.00 13.63 1.83 19.44 141. i

Barley 9.00 13.77 2.14 19.93 177. "'

Buckwheat 5.00 16.15 6.75 27.61 458. '

Pea 6.00 14.93 4.40 23.69 322. '■

Bean 6.00 15.56 7.85 27.95 390.

Clover 6 00 14.78 5.81 24.91 343. j

Maize stover 6.00 13.10 3.43 20.35 275.

Forage Plants, Fodder, and Ensilage.

Analysis of various forage plants has shown their chemical i
composition to be as follows :

Water Ash Album- Crude Carbohy- Fat
inoids fiber drates
Sorghum, av'ge of 3... 84.00 .77 .97 5.23 8.60 .43

Sorghum, amber cane,82.44 .74 1.17 5.94 9.32 .39

THE VARIOUS FOODS. 37

Fodder corn 80.65 .99 1.54 6.10 10.14 .58

Ensilage, maize fodder84.14 . .96 1.00 5.14 7.92 .84

Ensilage, maize stover59. 29 1.72 3.62 8.11 24.80 2.46

Ensilage, H'ng'r'ngr's60.51 2.75 3.30 13.60 17.51 2.33

Cowpea 84.06 1.83 3.12 3.48 6.91 .60

Soja hispida 69.87 2.38 3.34 8.36 14.90 1.15

Prickly comfrey 84.36 2.45 2.94 2.61 7.13 .51

Eye forage 79.04 1.47 2.85 7.77 7.82 1.05

Oat and pea forage... 74.81 1.66 3.97 7.98 10.32 1.26

« Hungarian grass 73.49 1.72 3.45 7.81 12.43 1.10

Percentages of digestible matter have been determined as
follows:

Album- Crude Carbo- Fat Nutri-
inoids fiber hy- tive

Sorghum, av'geof 3... .60 3.14 6.71 .37 1:17.9

Sorghum, amber , .73 3.56 7.17 .33 1:15.9

Ensillge, maize fodder, .49 3.54 4.90 .76 1:21.2

Ensilage, maize stover,1.77 5.60 16.61 2.21 1 :15.7

Fodder corn 1.12 4.39 6.79 .44 1 :19.7

Fodder corn ( or maize fodder ) has been cut at nearly all
stages of growth for feeding, but there is no question that it
possesses the greatest nutritive value as it approaches maturity.
By comparing its analysis with the analyses of other plants, it
will be seen that it contains a very large percentage of water,
and that its proportion of nitrogenous matter ( shown by the
nutritive ratio ) is greater than that of the straws, but less than
that of the hays, and much less than that of the grasses. Its
excess of carbohydrates, just as in the case of the straws,
though to a less degree, makes it desirable to feed it, either
green or dry, mixed with clover, bran, or other nitrogenous
food materials. It is eaten with a better relish if cut up,
crushed, moistened, and mixed with bran, oil-meal, or cotton-
seed meal. It should be planted thick in drills, or hills, yet
thin enough so that the stalks will have room to bear an ear.
The nearer mature the grain while the stalks are yet green, the
better is the quality of the feed. Green fodder is not so desir-
able, containing more water and less protein and carbo-hydrate
elements than corn that is well advanced toward ripe ears.
Up to the time the ear is in silk, the per cent, of these constitu-
ents is small. It is only during the period when the entire
energies of the plant are devoted to seed formation that the

38 HORSE FEEDING.

food elements are stored in the concentrated form, such as
starch, sugar, fats, and the albuminoids.

Ensilage is attracting almost as much attention from horse
breeders as it is from dairymen. This is not so much because
of its chemical composition — it will be seen that its nutritive
ratio does not differ materially from that of fodder corn — as
because of the fact that it bids fair to supply the want long felt
of some succulent food less costly and more useful than carrots
or other roots for winter feeding. Within only a few years has
it been demonstrated that fodder corn stored in the silo makes
a winter food that horses both profit by and learn to be fond
of. Like most other animals they prefer it to the best dry
forage. The cost of preserving a given crop of ensilage does
not materially differ from curing the same crop by drying in a
suitable season, but crops can be ensiloed and preserved in
seasons when they would be lost if drying was attempted. All
things considered, Indian corn makes the most economical and
satisfactory ensilage in most parts of the United States, and with
a crop of 20 to 25 tons to the acre when cut, which is a good
average, the ensilage may be made, ready for use, at a total cost
of $2 a ton, and for less under favorable circumstances. An acre
of corn as ensilage will weigh four times as much as the dried
fodder. But an acre of corn, field cured, stored in the most
compact manner possible, will occupy a space eight or ten
times as great as if in the form of ensilage.

It is claimed that any crop suitable for feeding in the green
state will make good ensilage. Peas, oats, millet, rye, clover,
sorghum, and other forage plants have strong advocates of
their merit for ensilage, but corn undoubtedly ranks first. It
yields less, and the ensilage will be more acid and less palatable.

Good, sweet corn is just as safe as grass to feed to horses,
and in cases where it is supposed to have been injurious the
effects of grass would have been the same, except that if the
ensilage was very sour it might have produced a more aggra-
vated fermentation than grass. But all experienced horsemen
know that they must be cautious when horses are changed
from dry food to grass. If the horses are at work, in the
winter season the ensilage would have to be fed in smaller
quantity.

THE VARIOUS FOODS. 39

Professor W. A. Henry, of the Wisconsin Agricultural Ex-
periment Station, on being asked if corn ensilage was injurious
to horses, replied: ''Every now and then we read of horses
dying from eating corn silage, though the reports are not as fre-
quent as formerly. Writers seem to forget that a great many
horses have died after eating good hay and clean oats. In most
of the cases I doubt if the corn silage had anj^^thlng to do with
the animals' dying. Corn silage is a succulent feed, somewhat
washy in its nature, and is only suitable for horses living
under certain conditions. Horses not hard worked and brood
mares and colts can be fed a considerable amount daily of good
silage with good results. Work horses can be fed a few
pounds a day as a relish, but no large quantity should be given,
just as one would not expect to keep them thriving in summer
time on green cornstalks. It is surprising to see how long the
predudice against using corn-fodder in any form for horses
holds out."

An English correspondent of the London Live Stock Journal
gives the following testimony: "This winter two of my cart
horses have had three parts silage and one part hay cut up into
<jhaff; they have had no corn since November; they are in
better and healthier condition than many of. my neighbors'
horses, and also better than what I usually have them at this
time of the year. I feel quite sure that a properly-made silage
of a good crop — as rye-grass and clover, brown and sweet —
is a better food for horses than the same crop in its green state,
or made into the best hay. I have also three horses doing fast
work in the town ; they have three parts of silage and one part
hay, with their usual amount of corn, viz. 8 pounds of oats, 2
pounds of maize, and 2 pounds beans daily for each horse. I
never had them in better condition, or got through a winter
with less trouble, not one of the horses ever having had a day's
or an hour's illness since we began to feed largely on silage."

Sorghum is a fodder that can hardly yet be said to be well-
known, but its use is spreading and in some portions of the
country it has begun to play a part in feeding. It was less than
forty years ago, indeed, that its seeds were first brought to this
country, and prior to 1851 it had been almost unknown in
Europe, though it had been grown from time immemorial in

40 HORSE FEEDING.

Africa and China. It is a grass closely allied to tlie sugar-
cane and has been propagated here primarily for the sake of
its sugar, but it is now coming to be used also for feeding. It
is sown in drills or hills like Indian corn, and its mode of cul-
tivation is essentially the same. It will grow in any place
where maize succeeds, but rarely ripens its seed north of the
41st degree. The investigations of the Agricultural Department
show that as a crop for sugar the localities in which it can
flourish are confined to the semi-arid region of the country,
notably beginning in Central Southern Kansas and extending
southward indefinitely. This limitation, however, does not ap-
pear to apply to its use as a fodder crop, inasmuch as favorable
reports concerning it are to be found in the Agricultural Reports
as coming from several of the Northern States. For instance,
the Ohio report of the Seed Division for 1S89 regarding sor-
ghum read as follows : " The Early Amber ripened evenly and
grew to the height of 8 feet. Cows eat it greedily, and given
to a sick horse it acted like a toaic and invigorated its whole
system."

As a feed stuff sorghum has naturally received the most
attention in the Southwest. At first in some sections the
heads alone were appreciated, and in others it was the stalk
that was supposed to make up the value of the plant. Happily
farmers are now everywhere grasping the fact that the entire
plant is valuable for forage. As material for silage it grew
rapidly in favor, not only because of its large yield to the acre,
but also because of its richness and resultant fattening proper-
ties. The Texas Experiment Station reports that as a hay it is
palatable and readily eaten by horses and cows, and when
nearly ripe, or ^uite so, by hogs. If cut and fed during its
growth in its green state, it becomes a most valuable adjunct to
corn.

The use of sorghum seed for food would more naturally be
discussed with that of cereals, but for convenience we may
give here the conclusions of the Agricultural Department re-
garding it. The chief objection to its use for food, says the
Report of 1889, has been on the supposition that it contained
tannin, or some bitter principle, which would prove injurious
to stock. A careful examination of sorghum seed has failed

THE A'ARIOUS FOODS. 41

to discover the presence of tannin, and the only possible injur-
ious principle which it can contain is the coloring matter of
the glumes. A careful examination of this coloring matter has
been made and its composition determined. It consists of 33.5
per cent, of carbon, 6.6 per cent of hydrogen, 7.2 per cent, of
nitrogen, and 52.5 per cent, of oxygen. Any possible ill effects
of this coloring matter, when seed is used for food, can be re-
moved by the removal of the glumes, which would not be a
difficult mechanical process. Compared with maize and oats,
the seed itself is shown to be of fair quality, equal in food
value to either.

Analyses were made of a great many di£ferent varieties of
seed, but the chief difference in the varieties is shown in the
percentage of coloring matter rather than in the composition of
the seed itself. If sorghum should be raised for seed alone,
those varieties producing a pure white seed, like the White
Mammoth, should be preferred to those producing highly col-
ored seeds, like the Early Amber and most of the varieties of
Chinese cane. The percentage of moisture in sorghum seed is
about 10, the actual percentage found being 9.59 as a mean of
48 analyses. The percentage- of albuminoids was found to be
11.71; of fat, 3.35; of substances soluble in ether, 0.50: the
soluble carbohydrates, 3.37; of ash, 1.70; of indigestible fibre,
1.89; of starch and insoluble digestible carbohydrates, 68.03.
These analyses will compare favorably, in regard to the food
value, with those of maize. They were based on the seeds
from which the glumes had been removed.

The value of sorghum seed as a food for man and other ani-
mals is found to be fully equal to that of maize and oats, and
but little inferior to wheat. When fed, excepting to poultry,
the seed should be either ground or boiled ; otherwise much of
it will pass the digestive organs untouched.

Furze, otherwise known as whin or gorse, may be spoken of
here, though it is as much a straw as clover, to which it is
very closely allied in its botanical aspect. This shrub, very
common in Europe, is not so well known here, but one variety
of it, at least, has become thoroughly established on many of
our sterile hills, especially in the East. Abroad it has been
much used for forage ; and in some parts of Wales, chopped

42 HORSE FEEDING.

and bruised, it forms the principle part of the winter fodder
for horses. It is most extensively cultivated, however, in
Flanders. In some places it is sown to yield green food for
sheep and other animals, but it is preferable to other crops
only on dry sandy soils where they could not be advantage-
ously cultivated. As might be expected from a plant akin to
the clover, its percentage of albuminoids is high. Its nourish-
ment is available when it iswell crushed, and especially when it
is mixed in a chaff cutter with good hay or oat straw. Unless
so mixed it is too heating and apt to cause founder in horses an d
inftamation of the udder in cows. It gives a fine coat to horses^
and the milk taken from cows fed on it makes butter that even
in winter has a fine rich color. You can chop up any other
forage with it, and a little mucilage made from oil-cake added
will very much improve the feeding. The principal precaution
to be taken is to use at first very little furze , increasing th
proportion as the animal gets used to it. When they get used
to it, horses may be kept all winter on furze without hay, pro-
vided they get a bran mash about twice a week, and now and
then a little green feed such as carrots or half-boiled potatoes.
But if the horses are worked they should also get oats. Furze
as feeding is about three-quarters the value of the same weight
of good hay. ,

Roots, Tubers, Etc.— Allied to forage in their feeding
uses are the roots, tubers, etc. Though not extensively given
to horses, it is worth while putting here for reference the fol-
lowing table of their composition : —

Water Ash Albumi- Crude Carbo- Fat

minoids fiber hydrates

Sweet potatoes 74.38 1.34 3.56 2.14 17.98 ^ .60

Potatoes 78.49 .84 2.42 .68 17.51 .06

Cabbage, out'rleav's.89.86 1.35 1.83 2.98 3.54 .47

Tusnips 92.40 .72 1.25 1.20 4.20 .23

Pumpkins 92.27 .63 1.11 1.49 4.34 .16

Mangolds.... ..94.41 1.09 1.03 1.00 2.40 .07

Carrots .91.13 1.00 1.08 1.41 5.09 .29

Okra .87.41 .74 1.99 3.42 6.04 .40

Onions 89.26 .45 1.09 .65 8.31 .24

Tomatoes 91.26 .73 1.00 .70 5.84 .47

String beans 83.46 .83 2.75 2.58 10.04 .34

Apples, sweet 77.30 .46 .50 1.27 19.96 .41

THE VARIOUS FOODS. 43

It has not been thought desirable as yet to go into the exten-
sive experiments needed to determine the digestible percent-
ages of most of these foods, and indeed they do not usually
play an important enough part to demand it. Potatoes, how-
ever, are much used in certain regions, and it may be desirable
to know that they contain 16.56 per cent, of digestible dry mat-
ter; 1,07 per cent, of digestible albuminoids; 15.91 per cent.
of digestible carbohydrates ; and 0.08 per cent, of digestible
fat; giving the nutritrive ratio, 1 :15. If potatoes are fed raw
and in large quantities, they often produce indigestion. Their
digestibility is favored by steaming or boiling. They possess,
in common with other roots, slight laxative qualities. As they
contain much water, it will be prudent when feeding them to
horses to any extent to curtail the supply of water somewhat.
Professor Low claimed that 15 lbs. of potatatoes would yield
as much nourishment as 4^^ lbs. of oats ; Von Thayer asserted
that three bushels are equal to 112 lbs. of hay; and Curwen,
who tried potatoes extensively in the feeding of horses, «aid
that an acre goes as far as four acres of hay. Recent calcula-
tions of the New York Agricultural Experiment Station, how-
ever, show that for general stock-breeding purposes potatoes
have a food value of only $5.57 a ton, and a fertilizing value of
^1.66 a ton, making a total of $7.23, so that whenever they sell
at $10 a ton, the market value given in this calculation, it is
manifestly poor economy to feed them for stock unless some
other considerations prevail, such as their influence on health
and condition. Some who have tried them, however, say that
lor feeding to horses the small potatoes are about as good as
the merchantable ones, and of course it often happens that the
small ones can be procured at very low prices. They are said
to put a polish on the coats of horses and neat cattle such as
is given by few other foods.

Carrots, in spite of being nine-tenths water, have a consider-
able food value, or perhaps it would be better to say medicinal
value. In fact, though useful at any time as a change of diet,
they are most excellent during sickness. Their effect is to im-
prove the appetite and increase slightly the action of the bow-
els and kidneys. They possess also certain alterative quali-
ties. When they are fed to horses the coat becomes smooth

44 HORSE FEEDING.

and glossy. Some veterinary writers claim that chronic cough i
is cured by giving carrots for some time. Stewart in his " Sta- •
ble Economy " said : " They form a good substitute for grass, ,
and an excellent alterative for horses out of condition. To »
sick and idle horses they render corn unnecessary. They are t
beneficial in all chronic diseases connected with breathing and l|
have a marked influence upon chronic cough and broken wind. ,i
They are serviceable in diseases of the skin, and in combination i!
with oats they restore a work horse much sooner than oats <|
alone." These characteristics make it natural that in the(
spring, when horses cannot be turned out to grass, they should i
then be fed a few at a time, two or three times a week. Horses i
are very fond of them, liking them best when they are sliced (
and mixed with cut hay. Used purely as food their composi- t
tion shows them to have a food value of $2.70 a ton, and a fer- i
tilizing value of $0.98, a total of $3.68, being 93 per cent, ofjl
their cost, if that be $4 a ton.

Feek, the trainer, thinks carrots are of " too refrigerating a ■
nature to feed in cold weather." He doesn't like to feed them J
or any other roots when i^ is freezing.

Parsnips have nearly the same composition as carrots, except {
that they contain »n even larger percentage of water. In Eng- \
land and France they are fed in the same way as carrots.

Sweedish turnips are much fed to horses in Scotland, but are {
comparatively little known or used as an article of diet for the »
horse in the Southern counties of England or in America.
They are said to be not only easy of digestion in themselves, ,i
but also to cause cut straw to be relished by farm horses.' \
They fatten a horse quickly, producing a smooth glossy coat j
and a loose skin. They are best given once a day, boiled .\
along with barley and a little oil-meal, and preferably at night ;:
Turnips are an economical food, as their composition gives 't
then a general food value of $1.83 a ton and a fertilizing value <
of $0.85 a ton, a total of $2.68, which is 68 cents above the ij
market value set by the New York Station table.

Beets, apples, celery, cabbage, squashes, etc., are some- I
times fed, and are as welcome to the horse as sauces are to the i
man. But they should be given as condiments rather than as i
rations. Apples are particularly useful for young or enfeebled |i

THE VARIOUS FOODS. 45

horses in the early spring, and as a corrective at any season
sour apples have a medicinal value not to be despised. All the
succulent foods are beneficial for mixing with the dry foods,
especially when the change is made from pasture to barn, mak-
ing that change less abrupt and dangerous. The practice of
European stock raisers, with whom the matter of root supply
has nearly as much weight as that of grain and dry forage,
suggests that perhaps we are not as thoughtful in this respect
as we should be.

A Washington farmer reports that his horses running in a
field got at a pile of onions and ate about 300 lbs. Since then
they seem to eat an onion as readily as a carrot. The ouions
grown there, however, are very mild and sweet. The fact
that the horses a|e them is the best proof that they were agree-
able, and there appears no reason why they should not occa-
sionally be fed.

An Iowa farmer who has experimented with artichokes says :
" For many years I have grown the Brazilian and large French
artichokes for hogs.. As swine harvest the tubers and save
labor, I have never gathered them to feed to other stock. But
having some on hand last spring after planting a new lot, I let
a neighbor have them to feed to a valuable stallion that seemed
a trifle out of condition. The horse ate them readily, and beside
an excellent efiect as food and improving his coat and general
health, it was noted that he passed worms freely, In a short
time he was in fine condition. Although the effect on swine
has many times been similar, it was accepted as an ordinary
fact. This experiment would indicate that for horses, under
like circumstances, this tuber would be quite as valuable. The
labor of growing a quarter of an acre for use in the horse barn
would be a small matter, and the ease with which the large
variety can be gathered and stored ( freezing is no damage)
commend the matter as worthy fair trial. They may be left in
the ground until the frost is out, and would f urnisn a soft bite
to the horses, brood mares, and colts, just when needed, and at
one-tenth the cost of growing and storing the same weight of
carrots."

Orain. — Grain, everybody knows, is the staple food of the
horse, just as in the form of bread it is the staple food of man.

46 HORSE FEEDING.

J

The following table shows the composition of the various kinds :
Water Ash Album- Crude Carbohy- Fat
inoids fiber drates

Oats 10.94 2.97 11.38 9.85 60.05 4.81

Corn 10.51 1.54 10.55 2.09 69.85 5.45

Wheat 10.54 1.86 11.80 1.80 71.89 2.11

Buckwheat 12 55 2.00 10.00 8.70 64. .50 2.25

Barley 10.92 2.38 12.39 2.57 69.88 1.86

The digestible percentages of three of these ( remember the

figures are equivalent to the number of pounds of digestible j

matter in 100 pounds of food ) have been found to be : i

Albu- Crude Carbo- Fat Nutri- |

mi- fiber hy- tive j

noids drates ratio !

Oats 8.76 1.67 44.44 3.94 1:6.4 I

Corn 8.44 2.09 60.77 2.29 1:8.1 \

Barley 9.91 2.57 60.^0 0.78 1:6.6 <

A glance suffices to show that oats and barley contain the \
more protein, i. e. albuminoids, nitrogenous matter; and that ,|
corn excels in carbohydrates, the fat-makers. In fat itself, "
note that oats lead with barley making a very small showing. !
To be sure, barley leads in percentage of digestible crude fiber, i
but according to the latest investigations crude fiber does not j
seem to have any value for horses anyway. j

The conclusion from the figures harmonizes with that from '|
experience to convince beyond a doubt that oats combine in i
best proportions the ingredients necessary for the complete ;
nutrition of the equine body ; that corn is superior to oats for
fattening ; and that barley is better yet for this purpose. ;:

The value of the grains, computed theoretically and wholly j
on the basis of the commercial value of their digestible ele- j
ments, is given by the New York Experiment Station as fol- |
lows :— j

Market Food Fertiliz- Total Total \

value value ing value value value j

per ton per ton per ton per ton per cent. '

cost j

Corn $25.00 $22.22 $6.22 $28.44 114.

Oats 35.00 21.89 658 28.47 82.

Rye 30.00 21.04 6.80 27.84 93. j

Buckwheat .27.00 20.67 5.11 25.78 96. I

Barley 27.00 20.68 6.07 26.75 99. \

THE VARIOUS FOODS. 47

Oats.— Oats are the favorite food for horses because of sev-
eral qualities. They contain more nitrogenous matter than
the other grains ; their nutrients are combined in the best ratio ;
they are more digestible, partly because the fibrous husk in
which the grain is enclosed serves to split up the mass in the
stomach and expose it tjo the action of the digestive fluids ; aud
common belief credits them with holding a peculiar compound
that is gently stimulating to the nervous system. This belief,
however, has not as yet scientific basis enough to warrant the
general acceptance it has met. Although early investigators
found what they thought an albuminoid peculiar to the oat grain
which they named avenine, later studies with superior methods
have not confirmed the discovery and we have not yet any conclu-
sive evidence that the oat kernel contains any characteristic
nitrogenous compounds not to be found in other grains. Per-
haps it does contain avenine, and perhaps avenine is a nerve
stimulant, but for neither is there yet more proof than a some-
what generally accepted opinion, which is here cited for what
it is worth.

There are oats and oats. And there are different ways to

feed them.

Good oats are clean, hard, dry, sweet, heavy, plump, full of
flour, and rattle like shot. They have a clear and almost
metalic lustre. Each oat in a well-grown sample is of nearly
the same size. There are but few small or imperfect grains.
The hard pressure of the nail on an oat should leave little or no
mark. The kernel, when pressed between the teeth, should
clip rather than tear.

The skin should be thin. The size of the kernel will be less
in proportion as the skin is thick. Bearded oats must have an
excess of husk. Oats are not necessarily bad because they are
thick-skinned or bearded ; but they must contain a less amount
of flour per bushel than thin-skinned oats without beards.

The weight is a very important matter. Thirty-two pounds
constitute a legal bushel, but good samples weigh much more,
running sometimes as high as 44 pounds to the measured
bushel. Six quarts of the heaviest will weigh as much as a
peck of the lightest, and therefore contain almost a third more
nutriment, quart for quart. Therefore leaving out of account

48 HORSE FEEDING.

the extra tax on the horse's digestive powers by the oats that
have much bulk in proportion to their nutritive powers, it is
evidently a matter of no small economy to buy the heavier
grainr.

In buying oats by weight without the use of scales insist
that the measure be filled quickly. A shrewd, tricky dealer
will by slowly filling and shaking the measure, apparently ac-
cidentally, make oats weigh some two or three pounds more to
the bushel than is their average weight.
Short, plump oats are preferable to large, long grains.
In color oats are white, black, or gray. Some say white oats
have the thinner skin ; others, the black. It really signifies
little what the color is, unless it has been produced by bleach-
ing. It is not rare to hear advice against feeding oats bleached
by kiln-drying, and the advice is sound if it is certain or possible
that the oats have been kiln-dried because they were previously
damaged. No doubt such oats have produced inflammation of
the bladder and of the eyes, and mangy^ffections of the skin,
bat the blame is not necessarily to be laid at the door of kiln-
dryiug. As Youatt says, there is no fear from the simple dry-
ing, if the grain was good when it was put in the kiln. If any
doubt exists as to whether oats have been so treated, it may
be easily set at rest by rubbing some of the questionable grains
between the palms of the hands, when the smell of the sulphur
used in the kiln to bleach them will be noticeable on the hands
if the oats have been kiln-dried. Such oats, even if not
bleached, shrink unduly from the points of the husks, and hive
a brown look at the points, and so they can be readily
detected.

The age of oats is a very important consideration. New oats
are indigestible and liable to give colic. They ought never to
be fed when less than three months old, and are at theu- best
when a year old. After that, danger begins again, for oats
that have sprouted or fermented are decidedly injurious, and
mouldy oats like mouldy hay and straw, not only produce serious
digestive disorders, but have been the undoubted cause of out-
breaks of that dread disease, known variously as cerebro-spinal
meningitis, putrid sore throat, or choking distemper, character-
ized by inability to eat or drink, sudden paralysis, and death.

THE VARIOUS FOODS. 49

To distinguish between new and old oats one must rely-
mainly on the smell. The new have a fresh, earthly odor that
is wanting in the old. To be sure, old oats newly thrashed out
may smell fresh, but they lack the earthy odor. As a rule,
however, they smell rather musty, and frequently of rats.

In new oats the outside of the husk in well saved samples is
bright and shining, having almost a glazed appearance, espec-
ially in the black variety. In old oats this glazing is lost.
The outside, though it may be perfectly clean, is dim, and the
ends of the husks in white oats, and the point of the kernel in
both white and black oats, are always a little darkened. Badly
saved new oats may in these respects resemble old oats ; but
in such cases they will probably be distinguished by their soft-
ness.

The taste of the new oat is fresh and somewhat milky, and
its flour, when moistened in the mouth, readily adheres to-
gether. The taste of the old oat is slightly bitter. In the
mouth the flour feels dry, and is not easily moistened. About
the flour from the new oat there is a certain degree of juiciness,
sweetness, and milkiness. In very dry seasons these distinc-
tions are less observable than in ordinary years.

New oats as a general rule are softer than old; but here
again the season, the state of the weather for some time pre-
ceding the samples' coming to market, and the dampness per-
haps of the place in which they have been stored, may cause
old oats to handle as soft as new. On the other hand, in very
fine seasons new oats may come to the market almost as dry
and hard as old in average years.

The skin of the kernel of a new oat is covered with a very
fine prickly down composed of very minute hairs. In the old
oat the kernel appears and feels more smooth. If the husks are
stripped ofl", this distinction will be quite perceptible to the
palate in chewing a few grains of each.

The best oats are those that are cut about one week before
being ripe. Not only is the grain richer at this time in nutri-
tive materials, but also there is less waste from " scattering"
than when it is left to become dead ripe.

As to whether oats should be fed whole or crushed, there is
much difference of opinion. The truth seems to be that the

50 HORSE FEEDING.

right way to feed depends upon circumstances. To give
crushed oats to horses whose teeth permit of completely crush-
ing the whole seed is not to be advised, but it is always advis-
able with horses that eat greedily. Under these conditions it
will be advantageous to mix the oats with chopped straw in a
moderate proportion. By this means the horse is kept from
blowing the chop away by breathing on it from above, and
from picking out the grain in order to eat it without the straw.
Crushed oats are also preferable for h es having a defective
dentition, or when the digestion is weak and the stomach does
not decompose and dissolve whole oats satisfactorily. Crushed
oats are also to be recommended for young foals that have not
yet all their teeth ; also for horses whose teeth are worn out
and for those whose teeth are damaged or decayed. On the
other hand, with healthy horses, having teeth capable of per-
fectly crushing the whole oats, experience demonstrates that
oats are invariably more serviceable when given whole than
they are when crushed.

A Weston farmer who has tried saving the trouble of even
so much as separating oats from the straw, reports : "Last
Winter, having a good stock of young Percherons f rom one to
four years old, I did not thresh my oats but fed them to the
stock in tight mangers — one medium sized sheaf to each horse
and four ears of corn twice a day. They did splendidly ; I
never wintered horses so cheaply. This winter I am doing the
same with the same success. I cut the oats when the straw is a
little green, so it is hay, and thus save the expense of thresh-
ings which is no small item."

The average h^rse should be fed about 12 quarts of oats a
day, or about 16 pounds if the oats weigh 40 pounds to the
bushel. Ten quarts make a small ration if the horse is 1000 to
1100 pounds weight and is used much. The English practice
favors about 12 pounds for a harness horse in regular work.
The allowance for race-horses in training at Newmarket is from
14 to 16 pounds a day.

Corn. — The grain that all Americans know as " corn " and
that all Englishmen call " maize," is a valuable horse food
when rightly used. Our forefathers adopted it from the Indians
as the national food for both man and beast, and to no other

THE VARIOUS FOODS. 51

one cereal do we owe so much. When we think of the vast corn
crop and observe its use everywhere on the farm and in the
home, it is hard for us to realize that our European ancesters
had never seen an ear of it, that for centuries they had relied
on the small grains, oats, wheat, barley, and that even to-day
maize is almost unknown in many parts of Europe and little
used anywhere.

^^e learned early how to use it. They don't understand it
yet.

That is why it is possible for an English writer on the
horse to say: '' While there are so many other economical ar-
ticles of feed to turn to, it will not be found worth while to
resort to the use of maize for horses, however useful the grain
may have been found in the case of the other animals of the
farmyard." Or for another to write : "-It is over-strong as
food for a gentleman's stable." But it is only fair to note that
its use is spreading abroad, and some day no doubt there will
be a demand for it from Europe proportionate to the demand
here for home consumption.

The failure of foreigners to appreciate Indian corn does not
surprise us so much when we observe how many of our own peo-
ple are even yet ignorant of its proper use. When we find an
American writing that " corn is the bane of the farm horse, as
it is also of the horse doing any other sort of work," we must
conclude that our cousins beyond the water are not the only
people who deserve pity and need education.

Corn is indeed the bane of the farm horse or any other horse,
when injudiciously fed, but rightly fed it is one of the most
economical and generally useful of foods.

To use corn properly, it must be understood that corn is a
fattener, a fuel provider, and not primarily a muscle maker.
It is not true, however, that it has none of the elements which
go to make strength of muscle. Keference to the table of
grain analyses will show that in every 100 pounds of corn,
there are 8.44 pounds of digestible albuminoids, which is less
than a quarter of a ponnd below the showing made by oats.
The important difference between the two is not that corn con-
tains less nitrogenous matter than oats, but that it con-
tains more carbohydrates, IQ^ pounds more in the hun-

52 HORSE FEEDING.

dred. The natural inference is that corn contains more nu-
tritive matter than oats, and so. indeed it does, but unfortu-
nately its nutritive elements are not found combined in so
useful a proportion. That is why oats are a better all-round
feed, taking into account all sorts of horses and all sorts of
conditions. For some horses, nevertheless, and for many
horses under some conditions, corn is more useful and econom-
ical. It is clear that corn can be fed with advantage to horses
doing little or no work, and therefore requiring the fuel carbo-
hydrates rather than the strength giving protein. It is like- I
wise clear that corn is a better food in winter than in summer, j
because more heat is needed in winter. Equally certain is it .j
that corn properly mixed with foods containing an excess of ^
nitrogen, will make a ration the equal of oats, leaving out the i
question of digestibility. i

The fact is, however, that corn is not as generally digestible !
as oats are. Experience shows that while one horse will do i
full work on corn, eating it three times a day, and continuing
this through the year, regardless of the weather, he may have ;
a mate whose digestion will be greatly disturbed by being fed j
two or three rations of corn. There are, indeed, very few j
horses whose stomachs can accommodate themselves quickly !
to corn when they have been unaccustomed to it, and therefore j
it is never safe to begin feeding corn to horses in large quanti- \
ties. And in continuing its use, even mixed with other foods, ;
the constitutional characteristics of the horse's digestive organs ,;
as demonstrated by the results of feeding corn, must be ob- li
served and regarded. |

The chemical nature of corn makes it unfit as an exclusive j
food for young and growing horses. They need an excess of
nitrogenous, muscle-making food, rather than of a fattening
food like corn, and futhermore corn is deficient in the salts
needed for the growth of bone. As Professor Stewart says,
*' the great objection to Western and Southern horses has been
the fact that they have been grown too largely upon corn,
which is our highest type of fattening food, but the poorest
food to develop young animals, because it has very little of the
element of bones, and horses fed too freely upon corn have
tender feet and cannot stand city pavements or hard roads. One

THE VARIOUS FOODS. 53

pound of wheat bran contains as much bone material as four
pounds of corn."

Corn is fed whole, on or off the cob; coarsely ground,
" cracked," with or without the cob; or finely ground, in the
shape of corn meal, again with or without the cob.

The value of the cob is a debated question. That it has nu-
tritive properties, is, however, beyond dispute. Director
Goessmann of the Massachusetts Experiment Station, has said
of it: "The composition of the cob is similar to that of the
corn stalk, and the relatively large per cent, of the soluble con
stituents places corn cobs equal in point of nutritive value to
potatoes, and many of our grains, and they will compare most
favorably with the straw of most of our winter and summer
grain." Other authorities have likened its value to that of sec-
ond grade upland hay. Professor Groessmann further writes :
" I have recommended the grinding of kernel and cob together
for fine or grain feed rations, believing even that its addition to
corn-meal favors the digestion of the corn on account of its
fibrous, mechanical condition." But he admits that thus far
he has not experimented in its use by horses.

On the other hand, it is urged that the feeding value of such
food, as estimated by its chemical constituents, is not a safe
guide, and that in fact horses do not easily digest the cob,
whether eaten whole or ground. As to its use one horseman
gives his experience as follows:" I had a seven-year-old
mare, that last fall was as smooth as a piece of new satin. I
began to feed her cob meal and corn on the ear, she eating the
cob every time. In less than a week every hair stood up
straight and soon I could not drive her five miles without her
scouring badly. She also began to grow poor and lost her en-
ergy and looked discouraged and out of sorts. I stopped the
cob meal short off and began to give her three quarts, at a feed
three times a day, of oats and corn ground together. In a lit-
tle while she could shake her head and play a little and in a
few weeks was all right again, but her coat looks very bad.
About this time a neighbor remarked that there was nothing
like new corn on the cob to give a horse a good coat and keep
him in good condition. He began to feed it to a nice little bay
horse with an unusually thick, bowed up neck. It was only a

M HORSE FEEDING.

short time till the horse looked worse than mine. His coati
was going in every direction and the proud arch of the necldi
was all gone. I think in each case it was the cob that did thai
mischief."

Whole corn on the cob is commonly and beneficially given tofl
liorses afflicted with " lampas." If it is old and is to be fed im
this manner, it ought to be soaked in pure, clean water for tena
or twelve hours.

Dr. C. E. Page advises a trial of corn on the cob for cribbing^
liorses. "This gives them," he says, "honest gnawing andJ
]ess excuse, need, or desire for that which works mischief.l
Besides, this form of diet is in other ways good for whatever!
ails them. It is eaten slowly, masticated thoroughly, audi
will, therefore, be more perfectly digested."

Under ordinary circumstances, however, it cannot be saidl
that experience or experiment yet encourage the regular feed-^
ing of corn and cob, whole or ground.

Not so much caution is to be expressed about feeding whole i
corn off the cob, but it is clearly poor economy to use it in or-«
der to save the cost of grinding. The trouble is that whole i
corn is rarely masticated enough for digestion, and therefore!
it frequently acts as an irritant to the bowels, causing colic.

Cracked or coarsely ground corn is the least dangerous as*
an independent food. When finely ground, in the form of I
corn-meal, it should be mixed with other food. Corn-meal i
fed by itself becomes in the stomach a plastic, adhesive mass, ,
nearly impenetrable to the gastric juice, and frequently cans--
ing severe and sometimes fatal colic. Even when mixed withi
ground oats, it is not a safe food, the mixture making tooi
dense a mass in the stomach. Coarser materials should be «
used ior admixture, such as cut hay or cut straw. It is wise i
to moisten the hay so that the meal will stick to it. But who-.-
ever ventures to feed meal by itself, would better feed it dry/
than wet, because a horse can swallow wet meal after very
little mastication, but dry meal he must first moisten withi
saliva, and saliva aids digestion. \.

Barley. — Barley is not a common horse food in America, ji
and by far the greater part of our horses have never tasted it, ^
though it is the principal article in the diet of horses of manyi

THE VARIOUS FOODS. OJ>

other parts of the world. The Arabs feed their horses largely
OQ barley; the French in Algeria have adopted from them the
same practice ; and mixed with other materials it is much used
on the Continent of Europe. In this country, too, wherever it
has been used by skilled feeders, it has in the main been mixed
with something else, barley and oats ground together having
been one of the rations that has found favor.

A glance at the table of grain analyses before given will
show that barley contains more digestible matter to the hun-
dred-weight than either corn or oats ; that in percentage of di-
gestible carbohydrates it is almost exactly equal to corn, and
yet contains nitrogenous matter enough to make its nutritive
ratio very close to that of oats, bushel for bushel, so that when
ground wilh either corn or oats the mixture should be made on
the basis of weight, not bulk.

We have to go abroad to learn how to feed it, and find that
Youatt says the quantity should not exceed a peck daily. It
should always be bruised, and when the straw is cut it should
be mixed with an equal quantity of hay. If the farmer has a
quantity of spotted or unsaleable barley he wishes thus to get
rid of, he must very gradually accustom his horses to it, or he
will probably produce serious illness among them. Indeed,
barley very often does not agree at all with hard-worked
horses, Youatt says, and not so well as oats with horses gen-
erally.

This grain has sometimes been given to horses just recover-
ing from sickness and has been found to recruit the strength
and tempt the appetite. Under such circumstances it is best
given in the form of mashes, water considerably below the
boiling point, yet hot, being poured upon the grain, and the
vessel being kept covered with a cloth for half an hour or so»
In this form it is easily digested.

Wheat and .Rye. — Wheat and rye are not important
enough as horse foods to demand much attention. Professor
Michener says they should not be used in any but small quan-
tities, bruised or crushed, and mixed with other grains or hay.
If fed alone, in any considerable quantities, he says they are
almost " certain to produce digestive disorders, laminitis
(founder) , and similar troubles. He thinks they should never

56 HORSE FEEDING.

constitute more than one-fourth of the grain allo^^^ance, and
should always be ground or crushed.

On the other hand there are doubtless other farmers who
would give much the same testimony as this one in Iowa gives.
He says : " Early in the spring of 1857 our corn was exhausted
and we resorted to boiled wheat to feed six yoke of work oxen,
four head of horses, and a few head of cows. All of this stock
did so well upon the wheat ration that we were convinced it
was very valuable for feed and not too expensive to use. Then
for the next few years our large wheat crops were moved to a
distant market by teams and wagon, and a part of these teams
were fed exclusively on wheat-bran, and we observed then
that the teams thus fed were always in far better condition
than any of the other teams. And later on we observed in
reading the reports of feeding tests that whenever bran was
made a part of the ration for a part of the animals being fed
and not for the other part, those receiving the bran in their
ration generally gave the best results. So ten years ago we
became thoroughly convinced that it would be very stupid in
us not to recognize these facts. Therefore we mixed our seed
oats with 20 per cent, of wheat, and have never sown any oats
■^ince that were not one-fourth to one-fifth wheat, and are now
thoroughly convinced, first, that both the wheat and oats are
thus improved in quality ; secondly, that the yield per acre is
greater; thirdly, that two bushels of this mixed grain are
worth more to feed than three bushels of all oats ; fourthly and
last, that we cannot afibrd to raise oats without mixing wheat
with them. For mares in foal and mares and colts we have
found it superior to any other ration and have never had a
case of abortion. We have eight mares on the farm now, due
to foal this spring and in fine condition, and we think that this
grain is what does it. We always have one or more stallions,
and have had the best of results by feeding them on this mixed
grain. Our work-horses are fed exclusively on this grain, ex-
cept a little corn in winter for variety."'

Besides this, English testimony might be quoted to the effect
that if wheat be given at first in small quantities and after-
ward fed with discretion, horses will thrive on it.

It should be borne in mind that a horse ought not to be al-

THE VARIOUS FOODS. 57

lowed to drink water immediatly after eating wheat.

Professor Henry says that rye may be fed ground into a
meal and mixed with bran to make it lighter, and then
sprinkled over moistened hay. If it must be fed clear, he
prefers rolling the grain rather than reducing it to a powder
by grinding. The practice of boiling rye he thinks advisable
in at least a limited way, and he notes that the feeding of a
little grain boiled, especially to growing colts, is a practice
tenaciously adhered to by some of our best horsemen.

The French idea is to give rye only to those horses that suf-
fer most from fatigue. It should not be given to mares in
foal.

Says a correspondent of the Breeders Gazette : " I have fed
my work horses and young horses (except brood mares in
foal and weanling colts) unground rye for the last three years.
I give one pint per feed with four quarts of oats to my work
teams, and they do better on that feed than on six quarts of
oats. They keep in better flesh and spirits and are as slick as
moles. To' young horses I feed half the amount. I never
feed it to my brood mares ia any case. I am afraid of the
smut."

Bran. — Just as there is a variety of opinion about the use of
wheat whole or crushed, so there is a variety of opinion about
the use of that part of it known as bran, but with this difference,
that the weight of authority is against wheat and in favor of
bran. This material consists of the husks or shells from
ground wheat, being obtained during the process of grinding
by separation from the finer flour. To be sure, the husks of
other grains are also known as bran, but it is wheat bran that
is mainly fed to horses, and. what may be said for or against
wheat bran applies equally to the other kinds.

Analysis shows wheat bran to be made up as follows:
Water, 13,71 per cent; ash, 5.53; albuminoids, 14.56; crude
fibre, 10.83; carbohydrates, 52.26; fat, 3.11. A hundred
pounds of it contain 12.81 pounds of digestible albuminoids;
2.71 pounds of digestible crude fibre ; 41.81 pounds of digesti-
ble carbohydrates ; and 2.41 pounds of digestible fat : making
its nutritive ratio 1 :3^.9. Recalling that the nutritive ratio of
medium red clover is 1 :6.3 ; of oats, 1 :6.4 ; of corn, 1 :8.1 : re-

58 ( HORSE FEEDING. '<\

■'i

calling and comparing these figures we rightly infer that wheat ii

bran is nearly twice as nitrogenous, so to say, as the common I

foods held to be the muscle makers, and more than twice as *!

nitrogenous as the fattener, corn. Note, however, that it con- i

tains more than ten per cent, of crude fibre, and though a little j^

more than one-fifth of this is set down as digestible, it is doubt- *■

f ui if it does horses any good at all. To be sure, oats have 'i

nearly as large a percentage of crude fibre, but corn has only !

one-fifth as much, all of which is supposed to be digestible. i

Furthermore, and not of least consequence, note that whereas j

oats contain a trifle less than 3 per cent, of ash, and corn but a

little more than 1)4 per cent., wheat bran contains more than '

5)4 per cent, of this, the material that goes to build up bone. ■

For the same reason, and because of its excess of nitrogenous j

elements, bran ranks near the top as a manure producer. !!

It is this excess of nitrogenous elements that makes bran j

both a food of doubtful utility when used alone or as the chief ;

factor in a ration, and at the same time a food of unquestion- ,;

able u ility when mixed with other foods. Horsemen have so j:

long thought of it with only its medicinal qualities in mind, — :i

of which more later on,— that they are slow to realize its ad- i

vantages as a food pure and simple, but these exist and are ■;

coming to be recognized. It is manifest, indeed, that the J

horse owner will hunt far before he finds material as cheap and |

€asy to be procured that contains as much virtue for balancing i

the nitrogenous defects*of hay, straw and corn. Nor will he 'i

speedily find a material that can be so economically used to ji

give to ordinary rations the variety that is really so desirable f

in animal feeding. ).

One farmer writes that he believes '^ there is no better ration '!

for horses, milk cows and calves, than corn meal, ground oats j

and wheat bran in equal parts. This ration will cost less than j;

corn and oats fed without grinding. One hundred pounds of |

wheat bran is worth as much for feeding as three bushels of |

oats. A good ration for horses not working too hard, is equal

parts of corn-meal and bran. This is also good feed for milk

cows and calves."

Another declares that '^ one of the moSt valuable and suitable
ioods for young horses is bran, and this food at about $7 a ton

THE VARIOUS FOODS. 59-

cannot be considered an expensive one. The following mix-
ture is suitable for other winter and summer feed : One-third
crushed oats, one-third crushed corn and one-third bran, with,
a plentiful supply of hay or corn fodder."

Still another advises : ''For growing horses from yearlings
up, make free use of bran with a little oil-meal, say not over a
pound and a half to a thousand weight of animal, with a little
corn for variety."

A fourth testifies : " For the horse, bran mixed with corn,
meal will serve to assist digestion, while incidentally it will
make more valuable manure."

A fifth writes : " Calves and colts are easily kept fat and ap-
parently in good condition when fed on corn meal and hay
but to grow rapidly, and put on muscle, they must be fed in
addition wheat bran, oilcake, or oats-. Wheat bran, everything
considered, answers the purpose better than any of the more
highly concentrated foods, and for young animals it is beyond
all question the best. It is easily digested, and supplies the
growing animals with all the muscle necessary."

And Professor Henry sums up an article on bran by saying :
" I think there is evidence enough, both on the scientific and.
practical side, to show that, intelligently used, bran is a very
valuable food article for most any kind of live stock."

Nevertheless so experienced a horseman as John Splan has
put himself on record as opposed to bran for trotters, and it is
but fair to say that he is not alone in his opinion. To offset
it Professor Henry recalls that when he visited the famous
Ashland farm, the former home of Henry Clay, near Lexington,
Ky., then in possession of H. C. McDowell, he saw a bunch of
colts, some twenty in number, many of them sired by Dictator,
gathered about a long feeding box in a blue-grass pasture,
which was being filled with a mixture of about two-thirds oats
and one-third bran, by weight. Other breeders of fast horses,
too, are making much use of bran. Charles Marvin, for exam-
ple, in his able work on " Training the Trotter," says : " I once
gave it up altogether, and substituted boiled oats, with a little
oil-meal in it, for horses that did not sweat out freely and
scrape well. However, for the past few years I have used con-
siderable bran with good results. Good, clean bran, well-

60 HORSE FEEDING.

scalded, may be used judiciously to great advantage where a
horse's bowels seem to need a little loosening."

Whatever opinion may be entertained of bran as a regular
article of diet, there is but one opinion of its value as an occa-
sional adjunct to any ration, because of its medicinal qualities.
Bran is a laxative, correcting tendencies to constipation, pro-
moting digestion and saving many a dose of physic. To make
most advantageous use of this peculiarity of bran, it is com-
monly given in the shape of a mash, best at night before a day
of rest, as the immediate effect is somewhat weakening. Sat-
urday night is the usual time for giving it.

Here is an American recipe for a bran mash: "Take four
quarts of pure wheat bran, and two teaspoonfuls of salt, pour
over it boiling water, and stir quickly till all is wet, but not too
thin, cover closely to confine the steam, let it stand until cool,
and give in the place of the regular feed."

Here is an English recipe: "Put the required quantity of
bran into a stable-rubber and tie it up, and then let it steep for
a short time in a bucket tilled with enough boiling water to be
absorbed by the bran. Wring the water out of the mash by
twisting the neck of the rubber. Open the rubber and spread
it out, so as to allow the mash to cool a little before giving."

A. J. Feek, the successful trainer and conditioner, says on
the subject : " I do not approve of hot mashes when a horse is
well. When a horse is sick it is many times necessary to give
him a hot mash to steam out his head and throat and warm him
up in case of a bad cold or other sickness ; but when a horse is
well, let well enough alone. I have had horses in good health
which became sick, that is to say took cold from the steam
and heating propensities of a hot mash ; it opened the pores
and they contracted a cold on their next exposure to a colder
temperature or on giving them a drive. Throw away hot
mashes, soaking tubs, and blanket sweats, for they have been
proved an injury and have been abandoned by all first-class
trainers for years."

Sour bran is not to be given horses under any circumstances.
It disorders the stomach and intestines, and may produce
serious results.

Linseed and Cottonseed. — The composition of linseed

THE VARIOUS FOODS. 61

and cottonseed meal is as follows :—

Water Ash Albumi- Crude Carbo- Fat

noids fibre hydrates

Linseed meal 9.83 5.13 31.52 11.54 34.95 7.03

Cottonseed meal. 11. 06 7.39 40.56 3.56 23.86 13.57

The percentages of digestible master, or the number of
pounds of each element digested in 100 pounds of food,
are : —

Albumi- Crude Carbo- Fat Nutri-
noids fibre hydrates tive

ratio
Linseed meal.... 27. 42 3.00 31.80 6.40 1:1.9

Cottonseed meal 35.77 16.06 13,57 1:1.4

Linseed is the seed of lint or flax, and out of it are made lin-
seed oil, oil-cake, and linseed meal. To make these products
the seeds are first bruised or crushed, then ground, and after-
ward subjected to enormous pressure in an hydraulic or screw
press, whereby all of the oil but about 10 per cent, is pressed
out. The pressed material forms a cake about two feet long,
eight or ten inches wide, and an inch thick. This is "oil-cake."
It is usually shipped to England in this form. Before feeding
the cake is broken up and ground to a coarse meal. This is
called oil-meal, oil-cake meal, and sometimes, perhaps improp-
erly, linseed meal. In this countryv that cake designed for
home consumption is usually ground at the mills and sold in
sacks.

Cottonseed meal is produced in the same way, being the by-
product in the manufacture of cotton seed oil. It is only with-
in a very few years that its value for stock food has been real-
ized, and even now great quantities of it go to waste, either on
the plantation in the uncrushed seed or at the side of the oil-
mill. But enough oil and meal have already been utilized to
show that few discoveries of the present century bid fair to do
more good to mankind than the discovery of the virtues of the
seed of cotton. Yet many Southerners can recall the time
when a team of oxen hauling loads of cotton away from the
gin, where hundreds of bushels of seed were rotting, would
have also to pull enough corn to eat on the trip, and it might
be the same wagon would return from town loaded with West-

62 HORSE FEEDING.

ern corn to feed the horses to make the next cro^. Cjttoa
seed was then thought to be unfit for oxen. Even still the
South is paying literally millions of dollars for horses, mules,
corn, meat, hay and other products of other regions, while the
oil mills of the South are burning a million tons annually of
the finest feed (cotton seed hulls) for want of purchasers at
$2 to $4 a ton.

Flax-seed or linseed is rarely fed whole. As is natural to
suppose, so fine and slippery a seed is not well digested. It
not more than a gill or half a pint of this sort of feed was used
daily, perhaps the ground flaxseed would be superior to oil-
meal, but a larger quantity would furnish too much oil. The
oil-meal contains all the muscle and bone elements of the flax-
seed with a smaller proportion of oil, but there is enough oil in
it to cause it to have a very excellent effect on the digestive tract,
so that it would be unwise to feed in its stead flaxseed, ground
or ungj-ound, except in rare cases.

In England it has lately been a good deal used in feeding
farm horses, the farmers boiling it with roots. The best way
to do this is to keep it in a bag by itself, so that it may not get
mixed with the other feed in the vessel in which it is put. In
gentlemen's stables it is used for mashes, and is held to be»
where horses will eat it, a most desirable addition to the menu^
especially after a hard day's work, such as hunting. For a
mash it requires long and careful cooking, until it is like jelly.
Therefore, when a horse leaves the stable on a hunting-day, hi&
linseed mash may be at once set on to cook, and it will not be
ready any too soon for him, whatever time he may come in.

The merit of linseed lies chiefly in the fact that, whereas it
is a laxative, gentle and soothing, its use by no means weakens
the strength of a horse, its laxative powers being more than
compensated for by its nutritive qualities. Its analysis shows
that it has a tremendous proportion of nitrogenous elements,
being exeelled in this by scarcely any food except cottonseed.
In the capacity for muscle-making the two are incomparably at
the head.

The skins of horses fed upon linseed are usually very fresh
and bright looking, and this fact has been taken advantage of
by horse-dealers and others who want to improve the appear-

THE VARIOUS FOODS. §3

ance and general condition of animals that have returned from
grass out of condition, with rough coats and lean bodies. Too
free a use of it for this purpose, however, is decidedly
injurious.

Ground linseed, like the whole seed, is occasionally fed with
other foods to keep the bowels open and to improve the condi-
tion of the skin. It is of peculiar service during convalescence,
when the bowels are sluggish in their action. Linseed tea is
very often given in irritable or inflamed conditions of the diges-
tive organs.

Cotton-seed meal has so far been fed much more to cattle
than to horses, and it is difficult as yet to draw satisfactory
conclusions as to its adaptability as a horse food. Northern
authorities seem to think it should be used only in small quan-
tities and with great caution. Southern experimenters do not
express themselves so strongly in the matter of caution, but
say that it is not wise to depend on it to displace grain entirely.
They think it a valuable supplement to the home-raised foods
that are poor in albuminoids, such as straw, hay, corn-fodder,
€tc. Perhaps nothing more satisfactory can be given in addi-
tion to this than quotations from two recent contributions to
Southern papers. One says : '* With eight cents a day in cot-
tonseed meal and hulls, I can put all the flesh on a thousand-
pound steer that his frame will hold, or get all the work out of
him he is capable of doing. ' Why do we not do the same with
mules and horses?' has often been asked. Horse feed is very
expensive, and especially so here where all the corn, oats, and
hay are bought. Now, cottonseed meal is not only cheaper,
pound for pound, than corn, but contains about three times as
much nutriment and hulls cost only one-fifth of the price of hay.
The more hulls and meal a horse can be made to eat, then the less
expensive will be the ration. I have been experimenting on
this line, and, for the benefit of others, give something of the
results. I began with a horse and a mule, and by mixing only
the smallest quantity of meal and hulls with corn chops and
bran, induced them to eat it. The amount was increased from
day to day till they now eat three pounds of meal and enough
hulls to furnish suflicient roughness. I confidently expect in
a year's time to be able to feed horses on 10 or 12 cents a day,

64 HORSE FEEDING.

%

instead of 30 or 40 cents . Corn meal and cotton seed meal and
hulls make an excellent combination. Corn fed alone is too
heating and contains too little of the albuminoids, or muscle-
producing elements. Cottonseed meal is exceedingly rich in
these. The two mixed will make the complete ration."

Another writes, starting with his experience in feeding cat-
tle: *' While cotton seed hulls are admitted on all sides to be
an excellent rough feed, I do not think they have been esti-
mated high enough in comparison with hay or other proven-
der. Having fed large quantities for two years, I regard them
as being worth more, pound for pound, than average Bermuda
or other grass hay. I feed about 8 to 12 pounds hulls a day, ,
four pounds wheat bran and four pounds cotton seed meal, !
thoroughly mixed together, with very satisfactory results. ,
This ration is very cheap, about 10 cents a day, and the yield
and quality of milk are highly satisfactory. Hulls are much -
more easily handled than hay, and there is less waste in feed-
ing, as the cows eat up the hulls -very clean. •

" In the spring of 1890, about the time I thought there was <
getting to be abundant grass in pasture, my hulls gave out. i
The milk yield began to fall off so that I increased the bran and I
cotton seed meal, but never did I, during the whole spring, j
get as good results as when I used hulls. So I consider hulls
(fed in connection with bran and cotton seed meal) equal to
tolerably ample Bermuda pasture as a milk producer.

"Having found them such an excellent food for cattle, and
knowing that cotton seed meal is being fed to some extent to
horses, I reasoned that hulls ought also to be good for horses.
So I procured some corn meal, and by mixing only a very
small quantity of cotton seed meal and hulls with bran and
corn meal, succeeded in making them eat it. The quantity of
the hulls and meal was increased gradually until each animal
consumed about three pounds of meal and considerable hulls."

It has been found hard to make concordant analyses of cotton
seed hulls, because of their considerable variance in composi-
tion, the amount of lint remaining, and mechanically enclosed
particles of meal or parts of seed. Below are the analyses of
three samples :

THE VARIOUS FOODS. G5

12 3

Water 9.96 10.03 9.98

Crnde fibre 66.95 55.15 52.71

Crude fats 2.27 2.25 2.28

Albuminoids.... ••5.06 5.37 5.37

Nit'g'nfr'e ext'ct,12.41 22.19 26.74

Ash ..3.35. 4.01 2 92

Nos. 2 and 3 agree very closely, while the crude fibre in
No. 1 is largely in excess.

In many instances unfavorable results have followed the feed-
ing of spoiled cotton seed or cotton seed meal. It is quite
probable that these are sometimes due to the poisonous influ-
ence of ptomaines. It will be well to remember that fresh
cotton seed meal from good seed has a bright yellow color, a
fresh pleasant smell, and granulates readily. Older meal or
fresh meal it made from spoiled seed, has a darker color, some-
thing of a musty odor, and is inclined to adhere in lumps.

As might be expected from the composition of cotton seed,
its manurial value is great. Analysis shows the following :

Nitrogen Phosphoric Potash
Per Pounds acid Per Pounds

cent in a ton Per Pounds cent in a toa
cent in a ton

Cottonseed meal 7.03 140.6 3.28 65.6 1.88 37.6

Cottonseed meal..... 7.38 147.6 3.08 61:6 2.03 40.6

Average... 7.20 144.0 3.18 63.6 1.96 39.1

Linseed meal 4.92 98.4 1.98 39.6 1.14 22.8

Linseed meal 5.65 113.0 1.80 36.0 1.11 22.2

Average .:5.29 105.8 1.89 37.8 1.31 22.5

As we have seen, the Pennsylvania Experiment Station cal-
culates the fertilizing value of cotton seed meal at $10.12 for
every |10 worth. The New York Station estimate is a trifle
lower, putting it at $25.09 a ton on a basis of |26 a ton for
market cost of the meal. As its food value is theoretically
$33.47, the sum total of the two, $58.56 is enormously out of
proportion to what it costs to buy the article. If it should turn
out safe to use it extensively as a horse food, it is plain that
horse-owners will profit greatly by adopting it.

Cottonseed hulls have a very inferior manurial value, only

^6 HORSE FEEDING.

^2.42 a ton, according to the Vermont Experiment Station
calculation.

Beans, Peas, and Minor Foods.— Beans are a food
much less given to horses now than formerlj^ and much less
here than abroad. This fact gives occasion for a striking illus-
tration of the change in sentiment that sometimes takes place
in regard to such matters, and the variance in opinions held in :
different countries as well as at different times. Youatt, writ-
ing in England sixty years ago. (and the editor of the edition
published in 1865 approves his language by retaining it,) made
the following statements :-

" There are many horses that will not stand hard work with-
out beans being mingled with their food, and these are not
horses whose tendency to purge it may be necessary to restrain
by the astringency of the bean. There is no traveller who is^^
not aware of the difference in spirit and continuance of his
horse whether he allows or denies him beans on his journey. |
They afford not merely a temporary stimulus, but they may be'j
daily used without losing their power, or producing exhaus-J
tion. They are indispensable to the hard worked coach horse, j;
Washy horses could never get through their work without them ;|
and old horses would often sink under the task imposed uponj
them." I

Nevertheless, without tasting a bean from year's end toi
year's end, thousands of American horses do the hardest off
work and yet survive, phenomenal as it might seem to Youatt j
if he were alive. We have hardly enough coach horses left to|
say whether the bean is as indispensable to them as to the Bos-|
tonian, but what there are seem somehow to get along without^
it. Neither do our travellers appear delayed greatly becau-^e?
the absence of the bean from the morning meal has dispirited!
the horse. I

The modern American idea is that when beans are fed at all|
they should be given with great discretion. They are recog-f
nized as heating and astringent by nature, and therefore often!
to be given with advantage to horses liable to purge, but they
are by themselves too stimulating and binding. Therefore
they should never be fed at all to horses that are not working.
They are injurious when given alone, and should not be fed for

THE VARIOUS FOODS. 67

any lergth of time as their prolonged use is liable to cause
swelled legs, humors, and itchiness. They should never be
fed when less than a year old, and should be hard, not soft.
Old beans in good condition are very hard. They ought to be
crushed before being fed.

Peas have all the advantageous, properties of beans without
their harmful qualities, and where such food is required, they
should be given the preference over beans. They, too, should
be given in moderation, and not long steadily. The white peas^
are best suited for horses. They are somewhat expensive as a
horse-food, but they are a good addition to the menu at times
and they put heart into a weakly horse and muscle on him.
Like beans they are better crushed, as on account of their
rounded shape they are otherwise likely to escape the grinding
of the teeth and be swallowed whole. Many think it unadvis-
able to give them to horses from whom full speed is demanded,
and hold they are better adapted for draught horses. Some
horses will eat peas very greedily when they get the chance,
and as peas when exposed to the warmth and moisture of the
stomach, swell considerably, the result is that when eaten to
excess they painfully and injuriously distend it, and instances
have been known of its actually bursting in consequence. This
is to be as much guarded against as the raeagrims, or staggers,
caused by beans.

In some countries pea-meal is frequently used, not only as an
excellent food for the horse, but as a remedy for diabetes.

Vetches or tares are plants closely allied to the pea, that are
much cultivated in Europe for fodder, but that have not become
popular in America, and are rarely grown here. Yet their
analysis justifies their popularity abroad, for they are quite the
equal of clover in nutritive principles. Youatt says that of
their value as forming a portion of the late spring and summer
food of the stabled and agricultural horse there can be no doubt.
But remembering what he said of beans, we are not inclined to
accept this verdict unreservedly. He says they are cut after
the pods are formed, but a considerable time before the seeds
are ripe " They supply a larger quantity of food for a limited
time than almost any other forage crop. The vicia sativa is the
most profitable variety of the tare. It is very nutritive, and

68 HORSE FEEDING. , ]

i

acts as a gentle aperient. When surfeit-lumps appear on the j
skin, and the horse begins to rub himself against the divisions <
of the stall, and the legs swell, and the heels threaten to crack, ■
a few tares, cut up with the chaflf, or given instead of a portion j
of the hay, will afiord considerable relief. Ten or twelve?!
pounds may be allowed daily, and half that weight of hay sub-v
tracted. It is an erroneous notion that, given in moderate
quantities, they either roughen the coat or lessen the capability '
for hard work."

Millet-meal is spoken of by Stewart in very high terms, and ^
he deems it proper food for young or mature horses. It has a .
higher proportion of albuminoids than oats, but less oil. " It j
is found," says Stewart, " when well ground, (and it cannot be |
properly fed without grinding,) to be one of the best rations ;
for horses, being particularly adapted to the development of |
muscular strength." j

Sugar and molasses are not familiar horse foods to horse j
owners in this country, but in some parts of the world they ^
have long been fed with safety and profit. We. are told that in i
the course of the Peninsular War sugar w^as tried on ten horses, .
each of which got 8 lbs. a day at four rations. They took it^
very readily, and their coats became fine, smooth, and glossy. ,
They got no corn and only 71"bs. of hay instead of the ordinary ,i
allowance, which was 12 lbs. ';

Of late years sugar and molasses have been much used in j
Australia, South America, and elsewhere for getting horses <
into condition for sale, and also colts while wintering in the i
yard. In the case of horses " ofl" their feed," or to induce them t
to eat their food that they would otherwise reject, sugar may ^
be used. The average quantity of sugar a day for a horse in li
poor condition is about a pound and a half. This should be i
mixed with cut hay or chafi'and turned over a few times, leav-H
ing it for a few hours to allow the sugar to be absorbed. Seven ij
pounds of sugar to 56 pounds of hay is a gfcod proportion. i

There are many special foods on the market for which some- |
what startling claims are made. Many of them aje asserted to j
have a medicinal or tonic value, and in some cases this is \
doubtless true, but it is always safe to buy feed and medicine
separately. Moreover, such foods are generally sold much

THE VARIOUS FOODS. 69

above their feeding value. It is a rare feeder that can afford to
pay transportation on a ton of feeding; stuff for a few pounds
of material having a medicinal value. Nor is the indiscriminate
feeding of foods containing tonics of unknown quality, kind
and quantity to be encouraged. Few of the so-called special
and concentrated feeds have a higher feeding value than bran,
and in general it is not to be considered a good investment to
pay more for thegi than the nominal feeding value of bran.

Salt. — The ordinary food of the horse, like the food of man,
contains some salt, but not enough. Its presence in its natural
form in the diet of either is not merely desirable as a condiment,
a seasoning, — it is practically a necessity, for although animals
will not perish if they do not get more than their food contains,
they will suffer and not thrive. Therefore it is natural for them
to crave it. As an illustration of what they will do to get it,
the fact may be cited that in India horses have been known to
eat away at the stable walls and mangers, (which are generally
made of mud bricks dried in the sun,) to get the saltpetre that
is everywhere present in Indian soil.

Almost everybody now agrees that the best way to give it to
horses is in the form of a lump of rock-salt in the manger or the
pasture. This is preferable to feeding it at irregular intervals
in large quantities, or to mixing it crushed with the feed,
because when the horse is salt-ravenous he eats more than tie
ought, and when he swallows it with his ration, more or less
loose salt gets into the stomach undissolved, causing irritation
and consequent illness. Many instances of colic caused by an
over-dose of common salt are well authenticated.

Some recommend that the hay be sprinkled with water in
which salt has been dissolved, but this plan is laborious, and
has the same danger of furnishing too much or too little. The
lump method of salting is easier, cheaper, and devoid of risk.
A lump costs but a trifle, and lasts a long time, as the hor^e
only licks it as he needs it, and his desire is satisfied by a very
little, Better still, this expedient makes it impossible that the
horse shall suffer from the neglect of attendants to supply him
with this food so essential to his comfort and his health. Some
enthusiasts go so far as to express a belief that there would not
be one case of colic or the heaves where there are a hundred

70 HORSE FEEDING.

now, if lump salt were always kept handy for the horses. j|
Doubtless this is an exaggeration, yet nevertheless it is certain ji
that the lump of salt will ward off much sickness. Even if |
this consideration did not affect the pocket-books of horse- ■:■
owners, they ought to be moved by the humane aspect of the |
matter, remembering that " a merciful man is merciful to his 'j
beast."

THE PKEPARATIOX OF FOOD. 71

CHAPTER IlL

The Preparation of Food.

Foods are prepared for consumption in order that they may
be more easily taken into the stomach ; that a greater propor-
tion of them may be digested ; that they may be more easily
digested; that they may receive some new property; or that
they may be preserved. These are all praiseworthy objects,
but as the preparation of food is laborious and more or less
costly, it is clearly not worth while to undertake it if none of
these objects will be accomplished or if their benefits are not
proportional to the trouble. To determine this, however, is
not always easy. In some cases, as in the cutting of hay, and
especially straw, opinion is nearly unanimous in favor of the
work, while in the matter of cooking, the weight of opinion
seems to be adverse. Again, what may be profitable in the
case of a large car-horse stable or breeding farm, where small
economies count up, may be the opposite of profitable for the
owner of a single family horse or for the average farmer.
Therefore circumstances must be allowed to affect the applica-
tion of whatever rules may be laid down. A little common
sense will be a useful thing here.

There is no doubt that hay and fodder are economized when
cut in short pieces. The horse eats more in a shorter time ; he
wastes less by pulling it from the manger and dropping it on
the floor ; and he masticates it more thoroughly, which is con-
ducive to better digestion. Two horses fed by Professor San-
born on cut hay for 85 days gained 99 pounds, but two others
fed on uncut hay gained only 62 pounds. Then he reversed the
feeds lor 48 days, during which the lot fed on cut hay gained 75
pounds, but the .other lot lost 5 ppunds. The test was made
with lucerne and clover.

Bad hay should never be cut simply because in that form
more of it will be eaten ; bad foods are dear at any price and

72 HORSE FEEDING. " ,1

'l

should never be fed. Some long and uncut hay should be given I
to horses that bolt their food, even though a certain amount of ''■
hay or straw is cut and fed mixed with the grain.

The diiferent grains are more easily eaten when ground or ■',
crushed. In England it is generally held to be the best plan to i^
bruise even oats. Though a strong horse in his prime will be i
able to masticate them easily enough, it is thought often worth i
while to save the time and work required for the operation;^
and bruising all grain is thought especially desirable for old |
horses with defective masticating powers and for greedy horses i
that bolt their food. Rye or wheat should never be given t
whole, and even corn wastes less when ground, and, in common ?
with all other grains, is more easily digested than when fed i
whole. Marvin says on this point : — I

'• I am aware that some horsemen do not believe in feeding Ij
cracked or ground food, but my experience convinces me that \
a limited proportion of it is beneficial in all cases and quite i
essential in some. Horses that are inclined to bolt their oats i
and horses in whose dung is observed whole grains will, for «
obvious reasons, get more nourishment from broken than from i
whole grains. Unmasticated food can aftbrd little nourishment, ■
and when a horse will bolt his oats without masticating they ^
should be given it in the broken form."

A test of the comparative values of whole and ground grain t
is reported from the Iowa Experiment Station. It was made »
with six imported colts, two each of Shires, Percherons and f
French Coachers. They were foaled in the spring of 18&1, and ji
reached the college farm late in September. The test did not \
begin until March 1, but in passing it is interesting to note the |
results of feeding from October until that time. It is stated i
that during October, November and December the colts were,
fed nine pounds each of grain a day, consisting of four pounds
oats, two pounds corn, two pounds ground wheat or barley,
and one pound of oil-meal ; the other food consisted of 14 pounds
of hay, two pounds of cut fodder tops, two pounds of carrots
during the first six weeks, and five pounds of fresh whole milk*
During November they also had 30 pounds of cooked barley,
fed warm, each. The gains from Oct. 1 to Jan. 1 were : Shires,
322 pounds ^ Percherons^ 400 pounds • and Coachers, 281 pounds.

.;

THE PREPARATION OF FOOD. iS

During January and February the fl;rain food was : 150 lbs.
oats, 50 lbs. corn, 25 lbs. ground wheat, and 25 lbs. oil-meal
mixed together, each colt getting six and one-half pounds of
the mixture a day. The rough food was mostly cut stover and
sheaf oats, about 15 pounds each a day, and three pounds each
of timothy and clover hay, fed at night. The gain for these
two months is given as: Percherons, 179; Shires, 157; and
Coachers, 150. During this latter period separated milk was
used in place of the whole milk of the preceding period. The
carrots appeared to give good results and were liked by all the
colts, but an attempt to substitute sugar beets when the carrots
were all fed gave evidence that they were less acceptable to the
colts than the carrots. Several unsuccessful attempts to get
the colts to eat the beets were made during the winter, although
they were freely eaten by the sheep and cattle.

From the first of March until the 19th of May the colts were
divided into two lots, one of which was fed ground grain mixed
with a small amount of moistened cut hay, and the other had the
same amount and kind of grain fed whole and not mixed with
hay. The grain ration was made up of 150 lbs. oats, 50 shelled
corn, 25 barley bran, and 25 oil meal. The results of this trial
show a slight advantage in grinding the grain and mixing with
cut hay, and it is stated that the additional gain made on the
ground feed was equivalent to a saving of 307.5 lbs. of grain,
and 533 lbs. of hay. The average gain a day each for the six
colts from Oct. 1 to May 18 is given as 1.74 lbs.

Drying preserves the different foods and changes some of
their properties, notably removing the laxative tendencies of
most of them.

Cooking stock feed is not as popular as it was some years
ago. Of late there has been a feeling abroad that after all
there may not be much gained by it ; that if the digestibility of
the feed is increased at all by cooking, which has not been sat-
isfactorily proved, the gain is so small that it does not pay for
the extra work as well as the interest on the steaming appara-
tus, and for this reason one hears but little nowadays about the
advantage of boiled dinners for stock. As Professor Georgeson
put it, cooking cannot add anything to the food. It can neither
increase nor diminish the amount of nutritive matter. If the

74 HORSE FEEDING.

process is of benefit at all, the benefit must occur in one or both .j
of two ways ; either by rendering the nutritive matter the food j
contains more digestible, so that a larger amount of it can be 1
appropriated by the system ; or secondly, by rendering the food i
more palatable, so that the animal will eat more. It is a pretty
well established fact that the coarse fodders, hay, straw, corn |
fodder, etc., do not gain in digestibility by cooking or steaming. ;]
Some foods actually lose. This is, for instance, the case with {]
bran. Dry wheat bran is more digestible than steamed or !■
soaked bran. On the other hand, the food may be rendered ij
more palatable by being moistened, and we may thus induce ^
the stock to eat somewhat more than would be the case with j^
dry fodder. ji

Professor Michener says that boiling or steaming grains is to ij
be recommended when the teeth are poor, or when the digestive !J
organs are weak. ,;

Maj. A. T. Fisher, in his book on ^'Through Stable and Sad-^':
die Koom," expresses his belief in the advantages arising from n
the use of cooked foods, and cites his experience with them on j
a mare he could not get in as good condition as he wished. iJ
Never, he says, was a change more rapidly or completely ef- fj
fected for the better. She at once began putting on good, firm |
flesh, and certainly no horse could have been more fit to go, or f
looked in higher condition than she did in the course of a very j;
few weeks, and she carried him brilliantly through the rest of
the season. Despite this fitness, her dung was always loose,
so much so as to be an annoyance, especially in the hunting
field, and so he did not continue the use of the cooked food,
though convinced of its efficiency.

In the early spring some horsemen begin to soak the corn for
the horses. They say the stock like it better and that it is more
easily masticated, and hence better digested. The horses are
said to sweat less than when fed dry corn. The corn should
soak twelve hours but not longer and the water should be
changed every day.

Roots should be steamed or boiled, both to make them less
liable to produce digestive disorders and to make them clean.
In North Britain the custom of giving steamed roots to farm_
horses is much approved, especially for old horses with defec-

THE PREPARATION FOOD OF. /5

tive mastication. Steamed Swedish turnips and potatoes
are used, mixed with cut oat-straw, and even cut wheat-straw,
the practice being to give this food from the middle of October
to the end of May.

Boiled food is thought by many preferable to steamed food.
Ihe experience of people in Scotland where both boiled and
steamed food was fed to large numt)ers of horses, showed
fewer casualties among those getting the boiled food.

W. C. Edwards, M. P., of Rockland, Ont., has introduced a
system of feeding horses that in practice he has found to
work very well. It is substantially as follows : The hay is cut
and put into a box, the oats are ground and spread over this,
and bran is added. The whole is then mixed and water is ap-
plied until the mass is saturated. It is then allowed to stand
for twelve hours and is fed in two feeds per day. The amount
of ground grain is increased or lessened according to the ob-
ject sought. The j-ation is given to colts, brood mares, and
working horses. As the coltc advance in age some dry oats
are given to them, and the work horses get a dry ration at
noon. For horses that are not to be driven fast and long dis-
tances, not more than one feed of the mixture should be given
during the day. Mr. Edwards is quite satisfied that this ration
is a very economical one, and he has tried it now for several
years. The distinctive feature of this system is the amount of
water applied. It has been frequently recommended to
moisten cut food given to horses, but we seldom find it recom-
mended to saturate it with water, and then allow it to undergo
a sort of mild fermentation. This, however, Mr. Edwards has
tried. It has got beyond the domain of theory with him, for
he is so satisfied regarding the advantages of the system that
he would practice it with all the horses used at many points in
connection with his large lumbering business if this were prac-
tical. The results have been most marked in the development
of young horses.

76 HORSE FEEDING.

CHAPTER IV.
Feeding and Rations.

The problem in feeding a horse is to get out of him as much
work as possible as cheaply as possible.

It is quickly stated but the answer is not so simple. Many
considerations affect it, and not the least of them is the factor
of health. The well horse does the most work. The dead
horse does no work.

Then there is the factor of individuality, that which in man
we sometimes speak of as personal equation, '^he time-worn
saying that what is one man's meat is another man's poison^
has not equal force in its application to horses, because horses
lack the mental variations that affect the regulation of human
lives, yet nevertheless there is great variety in the equine or-
ganization, making individual characteristics necessary to be
taken into account in the application of every general rule.

Were it not for the factors of health and individuality, we
could regulate horse-feeding as precisely as we can regulate
the feeding of a locomotive engine. Knowing the composition
of the various foods, the proportion of digestible elements in
each, and their cost, we could adapt the ration with almost me-
chanical accuracy to the ends to be accomplished. Even as it
is, the factors of health and indiviuuality are not potent enough
to vitiate general principles, but can merely modify their
application.

Therefore it is both theoretically and practically wise to as-
certain what are the true principles on which to base a feeding
ration, irrespective of their special application. In other words,
it is useful to determine what ought to be and may be fed to an
average horse, assuming normal conditions.

The scientific aspect of this truth has been recognized only
within the last half of the present centufy. Previously, the
whole world had been content to answer all the problems in

FEEDING AXD RATIONS. • 77

Stock-feeding by the uncertain and unthrifty teachings of un-
organized experience. Men fed their animals thus and so be-
cause their fathers had fed them thus and so. Now and then
accidental success or disaster following some unscientific or
unintentional experiment, brought into irrational favor or dis-
favor some particular food. Everywhere prejudice and waste
went hand in hand*

All this began to be changed a little more than thirty years
ago, when Bischof and Voit in Munich, Henneberg and Stoh-
manuin W'eende, Wolff in Hohenheim, and other German inves-
tigators undertook the experiments that have led to our present
theory of nutrition and methods of estimating the nutritive
values of feeding stuffs and planning rations for domestic ani-
mals on the basis of the quantities of protein, fats and carbo-
hydrates. The feeding standards of Woiff, now generally
current, have been in vogue for twenty-five years or there-
abouts. It is, however, only twenty years since the first ex-
position of the subject was made in the English language, and
it is less than fifteen years since the details were made availa-
ble to students and practical farmers in the United states ; yet
such is the readiness with which new ideas are received and
put in use in this country that for the past ten years the Ger-
man feeding standards have been in common use in the United
States and the method of calculating rations for domestic ani-
mals on the basis of the chemical composition of feeding stuflfe
has become an every-day matter.

To illustrate what this method is and how it is applied, let
us work out an example on the basis of the feeding standard
for horses as determined by Wolff, which is as follows :

Founds per Day Required for 1000 lbs. Live Weight.
Digestible Constituents of the Fodder.
Total Albu- Total Fat Amount Nutri-
dry min- car- of nutri- tive

organic oids bohy- tive ratio

matter and drates matter

Amid- and
es fibre

Horses at light work 20. 1.5 9.5 0.4 11.4 1:7
H'rs'satmedi'mw'k 21. 1.7 10.7 0.6 13.0 1:7
Horses at hard work 24, 2.4 12.5 0.8 15.7 1:6

78 , HORSE FEEDING.

This means that a 1,000 lb. horse at light work will thrive
best if he eats 20 lbs. a day of dry organic matter, of which 11.4
lbs. will be digestible, being made up of 1.5 lbs. of albmninoids,
9.5 lbs. of carbohydrates, and 0.4 lbs. of fat ; and that in food
so constituted the protein would be to the carbohydrates and
fat as to nutritive value in the ratio of 1 to 7.

Be it understood that these are standards for a maintenance
ration, i. e. one which sustains the mature animal without gain
or loss.

With the foregoing in mind let us examine, for instance, the
ration of the street-car horses of Toronto, which are fed 7 lbs.
corn-meal, 6>^ lbs. chopped oats, Ij^ lbs. wheat bran, 11 lbs.
cut hay. References to the analyses previously given will
show that 100 lbs. of each of these foods will contain :

Dry organ- Albumi- Fibre and Fat

ic matter noids carbohydrates

Corn 87.95 8.44 62.86 2.29

Oats 86.09 8-76 46.11 3.94

Wheat bran 80.76 12.81 43.98 2.41

Hay 80.49 3.21 41.17 1.32

Applying these figures to the number of pounds of each food
as given in the case under consideration, makes this showing :

Dry organ- Album- Fibre and Fat

ie matter iuoids carbohydrafes

7 lbs. corn 615 • 0.59 5.80 0.16

6 1^ lbs. oats.... 5.59 0.57 3.00 0.25

I 1^ lbs. brau... 1.21 0.19 0.66 0.04

II lbs. hay 8.85 0.35 4.53 0.14

Total 21.80 1.70 13.99 0.59

Nutritive ratio 1 :9

Comparing the results with the German standard we see that
this ratio contains 0.8 pounds more of dry organic matter than
the standard allows for horses at medium work, — a difference
not material. In protein the two are alike. The Toronto ration
has a considerable excess of carbohydrates and a very slight
deficiency in fat, making its nutritive ratio 1 : 9 instead of 1 : 6
as in the standard. (Remember that the nutritive ratio is found
by multiplying the fat by 2>^, adding the carbohydrates and

FEEDING AND RATIONS. 79

dividing by the protein.) We have assumed that the hay is
timothy. If it were clover, which has a larger share of protein,
the nutritive ratio would be much nearer that of the standard.
If timothy, the amount of oats should be increased and corn
meal diminished to make this a well balanced ration.

This illustration will suffice to show how the theoretical
value of any ration can be determined, and the more this
method is applied, the more intelligently and economically will
horse-owners feed. In such work the following table, copied
from Whitcher, will be found convenient :
Weight of Grains.

Per %, Bushel Per quart

lbs. oz. lbs. ozo

Corn meal 23 8 to

Cotton seed meal 25 8 J ,;

Shorts n 4 0 11

Middlings 18 0 \ A

Ground bats 12 0 i o

Gluten meal 26 0 T 2

Corn and cob meal 22 .0 j to

Cracked corn 21 0 1 ^^

Whole oats 16 0 i ^

Or stated in another way :

1 pound of corn meal equals 0.7 quarts

1 " ^' cotton seed '' .0.62o

1 " "shorts " 1-^^ I'

1 " "middlings " 0-90

1 " "oats '' l-^^_

1 " "gluten meal " ^'^^ ,^

1 '• " corn and cob " 0.73 |^

1 " " cracked corn ' 0.57 ^^

1 " " whole oats " 1-00

The choice of foods for combination in a daily ration lor an
average horse is affected by many considerations, among whicli
economy and convenience are prominent. A ration that is
cheap on the farm may be costly in the city. The family horse
in town will rarely get a taste of corn fodder. The Minnesota
horse is more likely to have linseed meal in his diet and the
Southern horse is raor^ likely to have cottonseed meal. It is
manifestly impossible to say here what will always or even in
most cases be found cheapest and best. The best that can be
done is to describe some combinations that have been found
national and economical.

80 HORSE FEEDING.

Here are eight rations given in a circular by the New York
State Agricultural Society :

Horses at light or medium work. — Per 1,000 Pounds
Live Weight.

No 81- 20 pounds silage, 10 pounds clover hay, 5 pounds
wheat bran, 3 pounds corn meal, 1 pound linseed meal. Nutri-
tive ratio, 1 : 6.1.

NO. 82- 16 pounds mixed hay, 5 pounds pulped turnips, 6
pounds corn meal, 4 pounds wheat bran.

No. 83- 10 pounds clover hay, 10 pounds wheat straw, 5
pounds oats, 3 pounds corn, 2 pounds oil cake. Nutritive ratio,
1:7.

No. 84- 8 pounds clover hay, 4 pounds straw, 4 pounds corn
meal, 4 pounds ground oats, 6 pounds wheat bran.

Horses at heavy work.— Per 1,000 Pounds Live Weight.

No. 85- Add 5 pounds corn meal and 5 pounds ground oats
to No. 84.

No. 86- 10 pounds timothy hay, 10 pounds oats, 5 pounds
corn meal, 5 pounds linseed meal, Nutritiive ratio, 1 : 5.4.

No. 87- 10 pounds silage, 5 pounds timothy hay, 5 pounds
oats, 6 pounds corn meal, 6 pounds linseed meal. Nutritive
ratio, 1 : 5.4.

No. 88- 8 pounds clover hay, 6 pounds corn fodder, 10
pounds corn meal, 6 pounds rye bran, 2 pounds linseed meal.

Youatt gives the proportion usually fed in England for agri-
cultural cart-horses at 8 pounds oats, 2 pounds beans, and 20
pounds chaff, made of equal parts hay and straw cut together.
The grain is mixed with the cut seed. By this means, said
Youatt, the animal is compelled to chew his food, he cannot
waste the straw or hay ; the chaflf is too hard and too sharp to
be swallowed without suflScient mastication, and while he is
forced to grind that down the oats and beans are ground with
it, and yield more nourishment ; the stomach is more slowly
filled and therefore acts better on its contents, and is not so
likely to be overloaded. The increased quantity of saliva
thrown out in the lengthened mastication of food softens it and
makes it fit for digestion.

Street-car and omnibus companies of course feed with what
their managers think the maximum of economy, and the results

FEEDING AND RATIONS. 81

of their experience are therefore well worth studying. The
street-car horses in New York city get during the summer
season 8 pounds chopped oats, 8 pounds corn meal, 12 pounds
cut hay. During the winter they get 16 pounds corn meal, 12
pounds cut hay. The winter ration was formerly used during
the summer, but was considered too heating. It is too strong
in fat and carbohydrates, and not strong enough in muscle-
producing matter. It is said by the company that its horses
wear out very quickl}^, lasting on an average only four years.
This is due to some extent to the want of muscle-producing
matter in their food. They sweat easily, their muscles are not
firm and hard, and they have not so much power to endure
hard work.

In another American city, the horses, required to make 24
miles a day at a jog trot, in heats of six miles each, are fed al-
most entirely a grain diet, being given only enough hay to
secure good digestion. The common ration is crushed corn
and wheat bran mixed with close cut hay. Of this about half
a bushel is fed dry at one mess. Whole hay is sometimes fed
and the grain ration is varied to maintain a vigorous appetite.
With this feeding the horses are kept in vigorous condition
under the constant and severe strain of the car service.

The rations fed street-car horses in seven British cities are
given as follows in " The Book of the Farm " ;

Lon- Dublin Glas- Edin- Birm- Liv- Lon-
don cow burgh ing- er- don
South ham pool St.

Oats 7 3 6 8 10 — 3

Maize 7 14 11 4 6 12 12

Beans or peas, 1 — — 4 4 4 1

Hay.... 11 12 8^ 14 12 14 11

Straw 3 — i 2 — — —

Bran — )^ i^ _ _ 1 1

29 291^ 27 32 32 31 28

The London Omnibus Co. found that 3,000 horses fed on 16
pounds of ground oats, l}^ pounds of cut hay and lOj^ pounds
of cut straw, did as much work and kept in as good condition
as another 3,000 fed on 19 pounds of whole oats and 13 pounds
of uncut hay. Thus a saving of 6 pounds of feed a day for
work horses was made by grinding the grain and cutting the

82 HORSE FEEDING. /;

hay — a saving, in the feeding of 6,000 horses, amounting to \
$300 a day. |

Henry William Herbert said : " For a gentleman's carriage- |
horse or roadster, at ordinary work, in its own stable, 8 pounds, *
€ind from that up to 10, of the very best, richest and most sue- |j
culent hay is amply sufficient, with 12 quarts of good heavy |
oats, as a daily allowance." I

Lyman F. Abbott reports the following ration to have kept
a family horse in Maine in fine condition and good spirits for
eight years : Morniog at six o'clock, 1 quart of cracked corn,
}^ pound new process linseed meal, 1 quart bran, 4 pounds |
hay. Noon, 1 quart of cracked corn and 1 quart of bran, j
Night ration same as morning. For summer feed, oats are |
substituted for the main part of the corn, and the night ration ^
of linseed meal discontinued, and 1 quart of bran or one pint 8
of middlings added. j

In a bulletin of the Louisiana Agricultural Experiment Sta- jjl
tion, the following ration is suggested for work horses or mules J|
weighing 1,000 lbs.: Shelled corn, 7 pounds; oats, 3 pounds;^]
peas, 3 pounds; hay chopped, 13 pounds. The ingredients of j.
this ration are mixed together, making a total of 2G pounds, |
and divided into at least three feeds. The writer .says: "Of ji
course, the preparation of this would necessitate the use of a ;
little machinery in the form of a hay chopper, corn crusher, ;;
etc., and all this chopping and mixing may seem very unnec- ;;
essary and expensive, but, depend upon it, on a large planta- i;
tion, or in fact, in any place where a large number of work stock k
are to be fed, the first cost would be the greatest, because I >i
have no hesitancy in sajing that what would be saved in feed ";
and the reduction of mortality in work animals would more ji
than doubly repay for any extra trouble and outlay." i

Speaking of a trotter going through a racing season, Feek,
the trainer, says : *' As you increase his work, increase his
feed proportionately. Horses differ. Some require more feed, ■
hay and oats, than others to keep them strong and in good
flesh, which is necessary to stand a campaign. The amount of j|
oats required ranges from 10 to 14 quarts, with plenty of good }?
timothy hay ; perhaps in addition a little cracked corn, rye or
wheat. Corn will sometimes loosen a horse's bowels too.

FEEDING AND RATIONS. 83

much; if so, change to wheat or rye. Do not use your muzzle
any more than is absolutely necessary, as I think there are
five used where only one is needed. Rye straw is very hard
to digest, and if your horse insists upon eating it you had bet-
ter tie him up after he has finished eating his hay rather than
annoy him with a muzzle. If he is very hearty, give him
plenty of hay and he will eat less straw ; and put the muzzle
on only the night before a race or stifi" work. We should al-
ways look to the comfort of our horses, and a leather muzzle
placed over one's head on a hot night or day must be torture,
and the wire one is no good except to chafe, as he can eat
through it. There is occasionally a gross feeder, or pig, as he
may be called, on whom it would be necessary to keep a muz-
zle, as he never knows when he gets enough, and you could
not get him emptied out and ready in a week for fast work. In
such cases I think it better to bed with pine shavings, if con-
venient."

W. H. Tourtellotte, of the Bates farm, Watertown, Mass.,
where many fine horses have bden bred, said in a private letter
written in June, 1891 :" Some of my brood mares I can keep
in condition by feeding one peck of grain a day ; others will
require half a bushel. This is made up of two thirds bruised
oats and one-third shorts, the best I can get. I give* them all
the hay they want to eat, anywhere from 25 to 40 lbs. each day.
I have one mare that has twins, and I feed her 24 quarts of
grain and 1 think about 40 lbs. of hay. My weanlings I feed
not less than one peck of grain each day, if they will eat as
much. That is made into a mash fed twice a day morning
and night, two-thirds bruised oats and one-third shorts. I feed
my stallions about twelve quarts each day, — four quarts of
oats and one of corn in the morning; four quarts bruised oats
and two of shorts with a little corn at night, made into a mash.
I never had one to which I have been obliged to give more than
that to keep him in good condition. I water all my stock except
the driving horses and stallions twice a day ; the driving horses
and stallions I water four or five times a day. I also give my
stallions a small allowance of grass in its season, twice a day."

That able trainer, Marvin, says: "Give the colts all they
can eat up clean, but it is not so easy to fix thequantity with

84 HORSE FEEDING. "J

..!■
horses. Horses differ ia the amount of food they do best with, '<
just as they differ in the amount of work they require. No ab- ^
solute rule can be laid down. One horse may keep right on i
hay alone, while another will require ten or twelve quarts of t
oats a day in addition to keep him right. The only rule I can j|
formulate is to give the horse in training all that is necessary ta |
keep him stout and strong. A horse, to be in proper track ^
condition, will carry a certain fair amount of flesh, and if you ij
reduce him below that he will become weakened." J!

To a correspondent of the Country Gentleman asking for a ii
ration for horses four years old, weighing 1,000 pounds, used|
on farm, ration to be from timothy hay, oats at 50 cts. .a bushel, ^
bran, oil meal, and corn meal at $20, Professor Stewart an- 'i
swered: " 12 lbs. cut timothy hay, 5 lbs. cob meal, 4 lbs. wheat 'i
bran, 1 lb. linseed meal. This will be a good ration for light j^
work in the winter. When they are put to hard work, add 1 lb» j
to the bran and 1 lb. to the linseed meal. This is a day's ration i
to be given in three feeds, smallest at noon, or two-fifths may !
be given in the morning, one-fifth at noon, two-fifths at even- <
ing, and if these rations are properly fed, all stock will keep in j
fine condition." ' J

To a correspondent of the Breeder's Gazette Professor Henry '^
answered: '' Eight pounds of oats are a light grain feed per*
horse per day, while a peck at a feed three times a day is too t
much grain. Wiih oats at the present price I should not feed I
over a peck and one-half a day, using shorts and bran mixed i
for the balance of the grain ration. Feed two-thirds of a peck "l
at a feed morning and night, and at noon give five or six pounds \
of bran and shorts mixed. The variety of feed will be a good j
thing, with somewhat reduced expense."

Here is other editorial advice: "For field work, not travel^^
give him 12 pounds of mixed hay daily, whicbmay wellinclude,»
some clover, and, as do the English, you may make it a parti
straw and 12 pounds grain, made up of one-half to two-thirds-l
corn or corn-meal, and the balance preferably in oats and 2l.\
little old process linseed meal, to keep the bowels in good or-V
der. One-half to one pound daily or a pound or two of braal
may be given. Some give ground peas and oats, a good food.,
Let the chief diet of hay be at night, and least, if any, at noon.'^f

1

FEEDING AND RATIONS. 85

Still anotner writer says : " Variety is the spice of life, and
nowhere is it better demonstrated than in the feeding of ani-
mals ; hence it is a good plan to vary the mixture of concen-
trated food, giving one week mixed with ground oats, the next
week using wheat bran wiih the meal, and it is beneficial to
the horse to add to either mixture a few pounds of oil-meal,
which is very rich in albumen, to counteract the excessive
starch In the corn."

To the owner of a horse who complained that while his horse
ate ten quarts of oats, he was not filled out, Professor Stewart
very truly said that not half of the horses thoroughly masticate
oats. Let his oats be ground and then make up his ration as
follows : 7 pounds of ground oats, 4 pounds fine bran, 1 pound
'linseed meal. Let this be well mixed together dry. A part of
his hay should be run through a cutter to mix this ground food
with. The 12 pounds ground feed should be mixed with 6
pounds cut hay, without wetting, and the horse will eat the
hay with the ground feed although all is dry. This ground
feed and cut hay should be given morning and evening, and a lit-
tle long hay at noon. The man does not mention the weight or
age of his horse, or how much he is ridden a day. The com-
bination here given will be likely to give him a start in filling
up and rounding out his form. After feeding this for a few
weeks it will probably be necessary to add another pound of
linseed meal. Feeding it dry will cause better mastication and
better digestion. The oil-meal will cleanse and soothe the di-
gestive organs and give a sleek coat.

A contributor to another paper says : "My oats having all
been fed, I was buying. Oats were dear, and ground oats sus-
piciously full of hulls. I reasoned whether I could not com-
pound an honest, cheap ration from wheat bran, oil-meal, or
cottonseed meal, and corn meal, for all my horses. I wrote to
Professor E. W. Stewart. He replied that for roadsters oil,
or cottonseed meal two parts, corn meal two parts and bran
six parts, with ten parts of cut hay or straw, all by weight,
was about right for twenty-four hours in three feeds. Well,
I stopped buying oats and have saved money. But 1 have done
more, — the particular horse mentioned has improved as a
driver and continues to improve. He looks and acts more am-

^6 HORSE FEEDING. ■)]

bilious and has a better disposition. For this I credit myself.
The weighing led me to try less and less hay, while not increas- ^
ing the grain ration, with the above favorable result. The horse
had a good appetite and only a small stomach. As a conse- j
quence he was uncomfortable, cross, and indisposed while on ^
the road. Now, 1 am not only saving money in grain, but in
hay, and have a better driver."

Many farmers are coming to think that they feed too much
grain. One of them in Illinois writes: "I believe that one- j
third of us feed too much grain to oui- horses at all times. I i
know of some men who do not expect a horse to eat any rough- i
ness when at spring and summer work. In fact, they give him
no roughness to eat. The mangers are empty for weeks, while
so much grain is put into the boxes that frequently it is not^ali
eaten. To make the matter yet worse this grain is exclusively
of corn, ,or almost so. Yet these men wonder why their horses
grow poor and do not stand up to work. Of course, none of
us are guilty of such feeding ; yet I believe that one-third of
us feed horses too much grain, and especially during the win-
ter. I can say honestly, and can bring my neighbors to wit- j
ness the truth of it, that no horses on any farm in the county j
do more hard work than mine, and that they are not so poor or '■.
as badly worked down as at least three-fourths of the farm '
liorses of the county. They are above the average of Illinois 1
horses in size, — big enough for two of them to draw a 14-inch ;
plow easily. Yet when at hard work in spring or summer they 5:
get only seven or eight ears of corn at a meal or a little more j!
than a gallon of oats. 1 hey are given all the hay they want, I.
and it is first-cbss hay. They are given 90 minutes for their ;:
noon meal. If they get through their meal in an hour, as they jj
generally do, they have 30 minutes at least for digestion before j|
they begin their work. ;!

"Now I know some farmers who give their horses as much jj
grain during the winter as I give mine during the spring and J^
summer, although farm horses are idle the greater part of the j
time during the winter. The horses do not need much grain
during the winter, and it is more expensive feed than rough-
ness. When idle and fed so much rich food, their appetite for
it is cloyed and their digestive organs are debilitated by spring ;

FEEDING AND KATIUNS. (?<

hence, one frequently hears their owner complain that they do
not eat well. Neither do they digest well. If given a little
grain during the winter they have a keen appetite for it during
the spring and will eat readily all they should, and will digest
it well. When my horses are not at work during the winter,
they get two ears of corn in the morning, a quart of oats at
noon, and two ears of corn or a little bran at night, j They are
given all the bright hay they will eat and are comfortably
housed. They meet the spring fat and sleek, and with muscles
in good trim. Their grain feed is increased two or three weeks
before hard work begins."

Another farmer says : " I would discourage the practice of
heavy grain feeding in preparing the team for spring work.
This so overtaxes not only digestion but the entire system that
the ill condition of these organs makes it impossible many
times to keep up flesh even if a large amount of grain be given
throughout the season. The better way is to give light day's
work for a time before and after spring work begins. Then a
light grain ration will not only maintain good flesh but the sys-
tem will also be retained in good condition so that as it be-
comes necessary to require large day's work the grain ration
may be increased to correspond with the work required with-
out overtaxing the system and getting the team out of fix, as
many times results when grain is fed heavily for a long time.

"I now maintain better flesh in my teams on 8 ears of corn
at a feed than formerly on 12 ears, because they are never over-
fed and with impared digestion ; hence they really get more
nourishment out of the 8 ears tha^ they otherwise would out of
12 ears or more. It is not what stock eat but what they digest
and properly assimilate that produces strength and flesh. My
observation leads me to believe many farm teams grow poo
under heavy grain feeding, while if h^lf the amount wer J fed
judiciously there would be much less difiiculty in retaining
reasonable flesh. While there is no doubt that oats is the best
muscle-former and gives the horse greater strength and en-
durance than any other grain feed, yet if supplies of this are
not at hand, I question if it will pay the average farmer to buy-
this grain for his teams at current prices to supplement or disr
place cheap corn already on hand. If the hay consists of a.

88 HORSE FEEDING.

mixture of timothy and clover and is of good quality, there
should be no difficulty in maintaining a fair condition in the
teams if corn alone constitutes the grain ration. If pure timo-
thy is fed, especially if inclined to be woody from over-ripe-
ness, it will be found very beneficial to add some oats and bran
to the corn for the stomach's sake."

THE ART OF FEEDING. 89

CHAPTER V.
The Art of Feeding.

To feed intelligently, one must know something not only of
the nature of foods, but also of the nature of the feeder. la
other words the equine structure must be understood, so far at
least as it is concerned with the consumption and disposition of
food.

The first thing to be understood, — and it is a thing of prim-
ary importance, — is that the digestive apparatus of the horse
extends from one end of him to the other. Not merely the
stomach is active in digestion, nor the intestines, but also all
the rest of the channel through which the food passes. Even
at the entrance physiological conditions have a direct bearing
on practical feeding, for it is the sense of smell that governs
the horse in taking the food. This sense is far more delicate
than is commonly thought, — so delicate, in fact, as to make
it essential that the manger^ and breeding troughs should be
kept clean. Untouched food should be removed less it become
sour, when most horses will positively refuse to eat it.

Supplementary to the sense of smell is the sense of touch,
exercised by the delicate nerves of the lips. A horse will care-
fully select the food in the manger he likes best and shun any
part he dislikes. That is one reason why cutting hay, straw,
etc., and mixing it thoroughly with the grain, is advantageous.
He will be the less likely to escape eating that part of the ra-
tion he does not relish.

In the mouth the food is masticated and mixed with 'the
saliva secreted by the different glands. There is also a secre-
tion of mucus in the mouth. There are three pairs of salivary
glands grouped around the jaw and they are to a great extent
under the control of the nervous system. The saliva is secreted
in great abundance, and has a peculiar solvent, lubricating
power on the food, besides a chemical action converting starch

"90 HORSE FEEDING. ij

into sugar. This moisture very materially assists mastication, ]'
showing us how necessary it is that eating should be performed ;'
slowly, allowing the food to mix with the saliva. Here is an- I'
other reason for mixing grain with cut hay, — it cannot be ]|
bolted. Fast feeders generally suJ0Fer from indigestion ; with ;•
them the stomach has to perform the function assigned to the ji
teeth and salivary glands in addition to its own. If the grain |
and hay are fed separately, give the hay first, especially if the |j
horse is very hungry or exhausted, because he must take ''
longer to masticate the hay. y

From the mouth to the anus the food passes through what j;
may be called a tube, the first section of which, after leaving 1|
the larynx, is known as the oesophagus or gullet. This, like jj
all the rest of the tube, stomach and all, is lined by mucus j|
membrane throughout its entire course. It is studded with |i
glands or follicles, which secrete a viscid fltiid called mucus..]!
This serves to lubricate its surface, thereby preventing its be- ';
ing injured by substances passing along it. Mucus also assists I
in the formation of chyme and chyle, and the process of diges- |
tion in general. It can be readily seen that interference with |j
these secretions along the alimentary tube, as by eating food k
that irritates the mucus membrane, produces a disordered con- ,
dition unfavorable to the digestive process. I

The dilation or expansion of the alimentary tube known as i
the stomach is very small compared to that in other ruminants, |
its average capacity being only three and a half gallons. Fur- |
thermore, the horse has one stomach where the ox has four, i
the capacity of which averages from 50 to 55 gallons. The ox jj
and the other ruminants are also remarkable tor their faculty |
of swallowing their food imperfectly masticated, causing it to
return over and over again for remastication, (the process
known as chewing the cud^) previous to its being finally swal
lowed and passed on to be acted upon by the gastric juice. The ,
horse can chew his food but once, and so it is natural he should
eat coarse food slowly. With his small stomach he must digest
his food with comparative rapidity, and that furnishes another :
strong arguqaent to the advocates of mixing grain with hay.
They point out that when hay is fed alone, especially if it is in
the form of meal, it is liable to collect in the stomach in a glut-

THE ART OF FEEDING 91

inous ball or mass that prevents the penetration of the digestive
fluids and agents to the centre of the mass, thereby not only
preventing complete digestion but also encouraging colic and
other troubles of the digestive system. But if it is fed with
hay, they argue, the hay divides the grain and admits freer
action for the gastric juice.

To test the matter, at one of the experiment stations a horse
and a mule were fed against a horse and a mule for 46 days.
Nos. 1 and 2 received two parts of cob meal and one part of
bran mixed with 20 lbs. of cut hay ; 21 lbs. of the meal were
eaten daily. Nos. 3 and 4 had the same quantity, but the hay
and grain were fed separately.

The weights were as follows :

Mar. Mar. Apr. Apr. Apr. Apr. Apr.-

13 20 2 9 16 27 29

lbs. lbs. lbs. lbs. lbs. lbs. lbs.

No.l, horse 1126 1100 1105 1075 1070 1067 1072

No.2, mule 991 990 950 948 947 933 950

No.3,horse 1200 1196 1175 1135 1131 1135 1123

J^o.4, mule 994 985 952 945 945 933 925

At the beginning of the trial the horse and mule receiving
their foods in separate rations. At the end of the trial there
was but 47 lbs. difference in their weight. The horse and mule
receiving their*hay and grain in a mixed ration, therefore, held
30 lbs. over those receiving their rations separately. In other
words mixing seems to pay for horses.

Professor Michener points out, however, one objection to
feeding cut hay mixed with ground or crushed grains, and
wetted that must not be over-looked during the hot months.
Such food is apt to undergo fermentation if not fed directly af-
ter it is mixed, and the mixing trough even, unless frequently
scalded and cleaned, becomes sour and enough of its scrapings
are given with the food to produce flatulent colic.

In the natures of their digestive apparatus may be found the
reason for the essential difference that should be made, but too
often is not made, in feeding horses and cattle. Bulky un-
prepared food is better fed to the cattle ; concentrated,
prepared food to the horses. This however, is a general rule
and not to be applied too literally. It does not mean that

92 HORSE FEEDING. 'i

ii
:i

horses should be fed no bulky food and cattle no concentrated ;
food. It does mean that on the whole horse food should be more i'
concentrated, less bulky than cattle food. Horses must have >!
some bulky food to detain the grains in their passage through i;
the intestinal tract ; bulk also aids distention, and thus mechan- \
ically aids absorption. On the other hand it is clear that an j;
excessive supply of comparatively innutritions food tocompen- ||
sate for deficiency in quality is not only embarrassing to the I
stomach, but distresses the horse by its bulk and weight. ;l
Farmers particularly do not pay enough attention to bulk in 'j
feeding horses. It is painful to see a horse plunging into heavy j
work with the stomach abnormally distended with bulky food, j
Especially for fast work should food be concentrated. The I^
slower a horse's work, the more can he be fed hay, straw, and I
fodder. '\

Another lesson to be learned from the size of the stomach is |
that the horse should be fed in small quantities and often. He I
is not built for fasting. To keep him long from food and then !
let him gorge himself results in distending the stomach, cans- Sj
itig irritation of that organ, over-taxing the digestion, and up- |1
setting the system generally. '

In the horse, as in man, when the food enters the stomach , and i
is admitted to the solvent action of the secretions, the stomach i
is in constant motion effected by its musculaj- walls, which
keep the contents in a constant state of agitation, and bring ,;
every portion of it into contact with the walls of the stomach, !:
so as to be subject to the action of the fluid that is poured forth j
from the walls during the digestive process, and the movement li
of the stomach continues untill the organ is completely emptied.' |
when it ceases until food is again introduced. This is work, j{
and not the lightest of work either. It makes a draft on the
horse's energy that does not leave him enough to do rapid or
severe work without injury. In other words, the horse, like
man, cannot work well on a full stomach.

But the task of digestion does not end with the stomach.
Indeed, in the horse digestion takes place principally in the in-
testines. The stomach begins to empty itself into them very
soon after the horse starts feeding, and the process continues
rapidly while he is eating. Afterward the passage is slower,

THE ART OF FEEDING. 93

and several hours are required before the stomach is wholly
empty. This is the reason why food should be fed in smaller
quantities to horses from which rapid, severe labor is to be
asked, and given to them preferably two hours before they are
called upon to perform it. Even horses intended for slow work
must never be gorged with bulky food, slow of digestion, be-
fore going to labor.

Some foods pass through the stomach quicker than others.
Hay and straw, for instance, travel faster than oats. It follows
that when not mixed, hay should be fed before oats, for other-
wise the hay would drive the oats forward into the intestines
before the stomach had performed all its functions upon them,
and the bad results of indigestion would follow.

In noticing the character of different foods we have seen that
at the best a proportion of each remains undigested. Therefore
under any circumstances a part of the food passes through the
animal and is excreted. By feeding the horse more than he can
digest, we not only waste the excess, but also call upon his di-
gestive apparatus for an unnecessary expenditure of vital force.
It follows that, paradoxically as it may seem, we can actually
feed a horse so much as to make him poor. Even if the results
do not go so far as that, but show themselves merely in a
super-abundance of fat, still harm is done. For fat is fuel, not
muscle, and too much fuel is both burdensome and dangerous.
Too mnch fat indicates weakness in the horse as well as in the
man. Adiposity predisposes to sickness. It has been well
said that nothing is more conducive to disease, nothing more
fatal to speed and endurance, than a full fed, plethoric condi-
tion of the system, unless it be the other extreme of involuntary
starvation. Among the great knights of the sulky, Charles
Green, of Babylon, Long Island, has been noted for many years
as a superb conditioner of lasting campaigners. His uniform
rule, when famous horses in his charge like Lucille, Golddust,
and Sprague Golddust, seemed to loose all ambition or capacity
to improve in speed, is to reduce their daily allowance of feed
to one-third the usual quantity for a week, and then to restore
the full amount. The stomach and digestive organs, he claims,
are thus thoroughly rested. In all cases, he affirms, the re-
sults are beneficial. The spirit of the horse is renewed, the

94 HORSE FEEDING.

ambition quickened, and the capacity for speed remarkably-
increased.

Many horses kept for pleasure driving are greatly injured by
over-feeding. A high-spirited horse, driven only a few miles |
occasionally, should not be fed as freely as an animal driven |
long distances daily. He does not need so much and cannot !|
properly digest and assimilate it. J

Indeed there is little more important in the management of I
horses than-the judgment required to maintain a just balance (
between food and work, as indicated by the condition of the '
animal, and the horse owner should be prompt to increase or |
diminish the allowance of concentrated food in accordance with i;
the work required of the horse. The greater the exertion the I
greater the waste of animal tissue, and the necessity of an in- I
creased supply of nutricious food. Should a horse require 'j
more food than usual to supply the extra waste of tissues '■
caused by hard work, give it by all means, but let the excess ,■
be in albuminoids, (i. e. in grain rather than in hay,) let the '
horse be fed of tener and not in increased quantities at a time, ^
and let the change be made gradually. II

The attempt often made by novices to put horses in condition J
for hard work by suddenly increasing the feed, always ends '
disastrously. ' ii

More food is needed in cold weather when the body is ex- ■;
posed to rapid abstraction of heat or vicissitudes of temperature ;
than in warm seasons.

An animal in poor condition needs more food to enable him j
to perform a certain amount of work than one fairly fat. ;|
When an enforced idleness from lack of work, or wounds, in- ,1
terferes with the horse's activity, a continuance of full rations ij
of concentrated food predisposes to and frequently results in '\
fatal disease, such as lymphangitis, azoturia, etc. j

Professor Michener says that when a horse is to do less jj
work, or rest entirely from work a few days, he should receive ]■
less feed ; and he thinks if this were observed even on Satur- '
day night and Sunday there would be fewer cases of " Monday J
morning sickness," such as colics and lymphangitis. )■

Dr. C. E. Page observes : " It is quite customary to keep up ',
the feed of trotting horses between seasons, permitting them j

Ji

THE ART OF FEEDING. 95

to become somewhat fat, and then when they are to be fitted
for sharp work, this fat is worked off and out while muscle is
being worked on. In 'other words, the horse is forced to take
on disease by feeding him in excess of his work, and then is
cured bv restoring the just balance between work and feed.
This is, in my judgment, very bad policy, proving in the end
exhaustive of vital force, ruining a great many valuable horses
and iojuriug all that are thus treated. ' Little work, little
feed,' should be the rule; unless indeed, the horse-owner feels
the necessity of keepiug up the appearance of his animals,
whether they get much exercise or not."

On the other hand it should not be forgotten that the horse,
on getting an easier time of it as regards labor, is building
muscle and tissue, and in every way repairing himself for an-
other turn of hard work, and the extra quantity of feed that he
consumes during the easier time, if not too great, is often a
decided gain, and not a loss to the animal's owner; for by it
he is kept in proper condition, and is in better saleable form
at any time his owner may want to turn him into money.

Over-feeding sometimes causes refusal to eat. Short rations
for a dav or two will remedy this. The manger of an animal in
this condition should be watched, and whenever, after a reas-
onable allowance of time for eating, the manger is found to
contain untouched food, that food should be immediately re-
moved, the succeeding feed being reduced a corresponding
quantity. So treated the auim il is allowed just as much food
as it will eat up clean. There is no more certain way to cause
an animal to refuse its food than to give more than is wanted
and then leave the surplus in the manger from one meal time
to another. Most horses, however, will eat more than is good
for them if they have the chance, and therefore should not be
fed all they will eat.

It often occurs that food is refused for no apparent, reason,
the animal at the same time becoming thin and weak, simply
for want of fdod enough. Dr. F. E. Rice, in discussing the
subject in a bulletin of the Rhode Island Ag. Exp. Station, says
it is in these cases that the numerous " condimental" and other
proprietary foods appeal to the owner — and in many cases to
the animal. Now it has been proved repeatedly that the nutri

96 HORSE FEEDING.

tive value of these foods, as compared with the common, un-
combined food-stuffs, is not increased by the condiments they
contain^ but on the other hand it is true the condimental foods
are not without value, coming from the fact that such foods do
rouse the appetite, and by exciting an increased flow of the
digestive juices, they do, for a time at least, give an impetus to
nutrition.

The following formula is given as one that is useful in the
greater number of cases: Ground or crushed oats and corn
meal, of each, 5 pounds ; oil meal, ^ pound, common table salt. ;
2 ounces. If the animal seems in need of a tonic or is troubled
with intestinal worms, there may be mixed with each ration as
above given, a desertspoonful of powdered gentian, and a small
teaspoonf ul of the dried sulphate of iron ; these are to be had
of any druggist. \

If as sometimes occurs, the animal refuses the ration contain- •■
ing the iron and the gentian, a little starvation is all that will 't
be required to cause him to take it; the dislike ceases once the j
animal has been persuaded to take of the mixture. i;

Of course the food ingredients may be changed to meet the \
indications of individual cases, and as intelligence may direct. ';

All of the so-called condimental foods are based on attempts 'I
to apply the principles included in the foregoing formula, but j;
the results of these attempts have been, in some cases, an abso-*<
ute failure, the "food," as shown by analyses made at the ii
Connecticut Experiment Station, containing less nutriment, ■.
pound for pound, than common bran. And, as noted in the j|
bulletin of the Station referred to, " the extravagant claims 'i
made by the proprietors of these foods may weli excite suspi- -i
cion as to their value." j

Dr. Rice quotes from Professor Stewart the following form- i
ula, said to be held in high repute in England. It is given here 'j:
as it shows rhe real vaiue of the better class of the so-called ii
condimental foods : '

..: .' i

Linseed oil-cake 25

Flax-seed 10

Molasses 20

Corn mpal 40

HORSE FEEDING. 97"

Ground tumeric root 11-2

Ginger 01-8

Carra way seed 0 1-8

Powdered gentinn 01-2

Cream of tartar ' 01-8

Sulphur 1

Common Salt 1

Coriander seed 0 5-8

Total 100

Boil the flax-seed in ten gallons of water until it forms a
thin mucilage; then stir in the tumeric, ginger, carra way,
gentian, cream of tartar, sulphur, common salt and coriander;,
now add the molasses, then the corn meal and ground oil-cake,,
stirring it well together. If it is desired to keep it long it may
be dried in a hot-air chamber or oven at about steam heat,
I after which it will require grinding for convenient use ; but
[the materials may be ground together in their natural state if
manufactured for commercial purposes.

The domestic animals, no less than man, require a variety
of food to make healthful and nutritious diet. Watch a horse
or cow feeding in pastures with various grasses. It is rare
that one alone will be eaten unless it is far better than the
others. There will be a bite here and another there, making
altogether a more palatable mouthful than could either be
alone. In the stables this choice is not given, as the hay is
generally bought for its uniformity, while a mixture, which
really makes the best . hay, is considered inferior. But even
in the stable some variety is now regarded as necessary by the
best horsemen. Winter feed is mostly too dry. It is wonder-
fully benefited by adding a few roots.

But be careful to change foods gradually. If a horse has
been accustomed to oat«, a sudden change to a full meal of
3orn will almost always sicken him. Even if the nature of
:he food is not changed, but its quantity is to be increased or
iiminished, do this gradually.

Food should be of a more laxative nature when the horse is
:o stand for some days.

Delicate feeders must be tempted to take their rations, and
;uch should never be fed too strongly at one time. A little
inseed boiled to a jelly and mixed with the corn is seductive-

98 HORSE FEEDING.

Hay damped and salted will tempt others. Tick-beans, a
double handful, are a relish in weakly subjects ; pale malt for
the convalescent or indisposed ; damp bran and oats areengag:-
ing for others. Some breeders give carrots and tares in small i
quantities. ^

As to the times for feeding, we have already seen why th©p
horse should be fed frequently. Three meals a day are thex
least number permissible, and many hold four to be better. To •
feed four times in the day diminishes the interval of fasting, ,!
and gives the horse no chance to get ravenous. The hours, ot^
course, depend on the horse's work, and no general rule can be^
laid down. In English stables the custom is : 6 a. m. Waterj^
and feed with a little hay. 7 a.m. Feed with grain. 12 mJj
Feed with grain. 5.30 p. m. Water and hay. 6.30 P. m. Fee(^
with grain. ;!

The heaviest feed should be at night. Then the bulk of thei
hay should be given, but see that it is not enough to make ai
greedy horse lose any of his sleep. It is both inhumane and!
dangerous to give an extra allowance in the morning to a horses
that has a hard day's work before him. That practice may
result in a stomach-blout. The horse starts out feeling full andl
oppressed ; he soon grows dull and listless, and fails to respondl
to the whip ; he sweats profusely, tries to lie down ; his headl
is carried forward and downward ; or if he is checked up he ia^
heavy on the reins, stumbles or blunders forward, and often^
fails. The pain and distress are constant, and the end is often^
fatal. ' [I

Better, then, " brace your horse up", if need be, by increase
ing his supper somewhat the night before. If he is to travel I
all day, and it is likely to be hard to find a place to bait hiran
take along a nose-bag. Were that appliance, too, used on th«
farm more than it is, farmers would have healthier horses.

One of the most common errors of feeding, andoneProfesson
Michener says produces more digestive disorders than anji
other, is to feed too soon after a hard day's work. This mus1>
never be done. If a horse is completely jaded, Michener says
it will be found beneficial to give him an alcoholic stimulant
when he goes into the stable. A small quantity of hay maji
then be given him, but his grain should be withheld for an

THE ART OF FEEDING. 99

hour or two. If he is but ordinarily tired, let him stand unti'
he is cool and comfortable before giving him the grain.

On the other hand, Feek, the trainer — and his experience
gives his words weight — declares that though he formerly used
cherry wine, brandy, etc., as a stimulant to give a horse
between heats, he discarded all of these years ago because
their after effect is so bad. They have the same effect on a
horse as on a man — first stimulating, then depressing. When-
ever any stimulant is necessary, Feek uses a homoeopathic
preparation, a few drops on the tongue, which he says has
helped him to win many a long and hard race.

The best nourishment he knows of for a horse between heats
Q case one is needed, say, after a horse has gone two or three
hard heats and has become heated, is given by a quart or two
of clean oats. Dampen them, put them In a sieve and spread
them out, so the horse cannot get a large mouthful at once.
This should be repeated after each heat if the race lengthens
out to five or six heats. Feek says he has used oatmeal gruel
and it is good for those horses that will eat it, but his experience
is that very few horses like it and any horse will eat oats.
'' We all know that when a man is tired a few mouthfuls in the
stomach will build him up wonderfully, and it is the same with
a, horse."

But it does not follow that because a little food under such
circumstances is a good thing, much will be better. On the
contrary, violent exercise immediately after eating any consid-
Brable amount, ruins horses and causes distress in all animals
that are put to it. And though every man of reflection knows
that violent exercise immediately after eating causes a pain in
his own stomach, yet many will give horses the most solid food
just before beginning the labors of the day.

It is best to have fixed hours for feeding, and whatever they
may be, adhere to them as far as possible. The horse has a
remarkable faculty for telling time, particularly meal time,
and to delay makes him restless. Regularity of feeding is as
valuable a thing to a horse as it is to a man. Neither will long
have perfect digestion if irregularity in meals is frequent.

100 HORSE FEEDING.

CHAPTER Vr.
Watering.

Water is the most important food a horse takes. It is a food
just as much as hay or grain is. It is by far the largest consti-
tuent of a horses body, it is wasted and consumed like the other
elements, and like them it must be replaced.

Water is the one food that all animals share in common.
Note particularly that it is the one food that horses and men
take under like conditions. Treat the horse in watering, then,
as you would treat yourself.

Impure water poisons you : it will poison the horse. Ice-
water threatens your health and even your life: it may injured
your hdrse or kill him. You drink frequently and in small.
<iuantities : let your horse do the same.

When you are heated, you take a few swallows and then if
you have self control, forbear: your horse has less intelligence!
and self control than you have ; therefore after letting him
have a few swallows, make him forbear.

The surest thing to make you sweat freely during a hot day
is to drink freely duriug the morning : if you fill your horse
before he goes to work, he will sweat freely.

And so we might go on comparing watering horses to water-
ing men, laying down the same rules under almost all the con-
ditions, but not quite all. In one physiological feature we have
seen that the horse is unique, —he has an exceptionally small!
stomach. This spoils the completeness of our equation by»
making it preferable with the horse, to water before eating]
rather than after. We have seen that long after a horse endsi
his meal there is undigested food in his stomach. Give himi
water then and it is liable to drive this on into the intestines,,
resulting not only in waste of food, but also in indigestion an("
worse evils, such as flatulant or spasmodic colic or fatal enter
itis. It has been found that water passes through the stomac'

WATERING. 101

very quickly, so that if given before food it gets out of the way
of the food. But if given after the food, besides pushing that
ahead faster than it would naturally go, more of the water is
detained in the stomach than should be, diluting the gastric
juice and giving another cause for indigestion.

To this theory has been applied the test of experiment. A
horse was fed about four quarts of whole oats and immediately
after given water to drink. Soon after the horse was killed and
cut open. Scarcely one quart of oats was found swimming in
the water in the stomach, the remaining three quarts having
been forced from the stomach into the intestines by the water.
Another horse was given water first and then about four quarts
of oats. Fifteen minutes after feeding, this horse was killed
and cut open. The entire quantity of oats was found in the
stomach and they had already become attacked by the diges-
tion.

Nevertheless, this question of watering before or after
eating, is not yet settled. The weight of opinion, to be
sure, has of late years been in favor of before eating,
and the arguments on that side seem the more rational. Yet
trials made recently by Professor Sanborn of the Utah Station
lead him to the conclusion that horses should be watered before
and after eating. He found that horses watered before eating
grain retained their weight better than when watered after
feeding grain. Horses watered before feeding had the better
appetite or ate the most. Horses watered after feeding graiuj
in ratio to the food eaten, seemed to digest it as well as those
watered before feeding. In a prior trial there was a small ap-
parent advantage in favor of feeding after watering.

An idea prevails among horsemen that horses should never
be watered of tener than three times a day. That idea is wrong
and in its application is brutal. It has been well said that feed-
ing a horse principally on grain and driving him five hours
without water is like giving a man salt mackerel for dinner
and not allowing him to drink before supper time — very un-
satisfactory for the man. If you know anything about the
care of horses and have any sympathy for them you will water
them as often as they want to drink — once an hour if need be.
By doing this you will not only be merciful to your animals

102 HORSE FEEDING. ■■

]

but you will be a benefactor to yourself, as they will do more |
work, they will look better and live longer. Learn from the j
experience of street car companies, whose employees water j
their horses every hour, and sometimes of tener, when they are ,'
at work. i

In a state of nature the horse drinks no more than he needs !
and no more than is good for him. It might be concluded that j
if while in the service of man he had access to water at all times, I
he would likewise regulate his drinking rightly, and so he *.
would, were it not for the fact suggested above, that his power i
of self control is not great enough to keep him from drinking ^
from excess when he is heated. This is the main danger from J
keeping a trough of water in the stable where the horse can j
always get at it, — a practice that has many commendable fea- j
tures and should be adopted when possible, for the danger re- j
f erred to can be easly obviated by turning off the water or
covering over the trough after the horse has had a few sips
from it in coming in from a hard day's work or a fast spin. .
Such a trough, however, should be fed by a constantly runninfe,^
stream, or be emptied three times a day, and it must be kept
clean. Horses detest stale and filthy water, and will long suf-
fer the tortures of thirst before they will drink it. J

They would, indeed, refuse all impure and poisonous water t.
if their senses of smell and taste were equal to detecting the *■
noxious elements. But though these senses are extremely del- j;
icate, they can no more tell than man can what Is safe water i
and what isn't. The scientific investigations of these later f.
years have taught us that some of the waters pleasantest to the t
taste are most dangerous to health and life. The sweetest of J
well-water is often the most deadly. j

We have not learned how to detect the poison without the ij
chemist's aid, but we have learned where it lurks. We know '
shallow wells and ponds close to barn-yards, manure-heaps, ^
cess-pools, and any rotting vegetable matter, are almost sure •
to contain the germs of disease, causing diarrhcBa, dysentery,
and other diseases of stock, in many instances resulting in death.
Therefore the safe way is to fill the barnyard trough with run-
ning water brought from a distance, not to water the horse in
stagnant pools, and to be as careful of what he drinks as you are

. WATERING. 103

of what you drink. If you will remember that extreme thirst
would induce you to drink pretty bad water, and that if you
did not use your judgment you would often drink bad water
that looks, smells aLd tastes good, you will see that it is not
safe to let your horse drink anything you can make him drink.
Give him rather only what you know he should drink.

Cool water is good for both man and beast. Ice-cold water
is dangerous. It is neither necessary nor wise to coddle a
horse to the extent of heating everything he drinks, nor even
of warming ordinarily cool water by adding some hot, but it is
desirable to have the yard trough where the sun will strike it
in the winter morning, and one ought not to bring the bucket
too quickly from the well. Let it stand till the chill is off.

The horse needs more water in hot weather than in cold more
when be is working than when slehedi i.j

Professor Michener says it is a popular fallacy that if a horse
is warm he should not be allowed to drink. The claim that the
first swallow of water ' 'founders" the animal or produces colic,
is erroneous. No matter how warm a horse may be, it is al-
ways entirely safe to allow him from six to ten swallows of
water. If this is given on his going into the stable, he should
be given at once a pound or two of hay and allowed to rest an
hour before feeding. If water be then offered him, it will in
many cases be refused, or at least he will drink but sparingly.
The danger is not in the " first swallow," but in the excessive
quantity he will take if not restrained. A recent writer has gone
so far as to maintain that it is just at this time, when an animal is
warm in all its parts with an active circulation, that it is best
able to resist the chilling effect of a draught of cold water.
The stomach then being empty, the fluid passes into the bowels
and is rapidly absorbed. It is held by the same writer that the
most dangerous time to give a horse a full draught of cold
water is after he has cooled down from fatiguing work and has
partaken of a meal ; the comparatively small stomach is replete
with energy, the circulation weak, the extremities are cold, the
whole system is languid, and not in a state calculated to resist
the chill. There is at least a grain of truth in this argument,
but until the doctors have agreed, it will be wiser to take the
middle and give water cautiously to a horse when he is heated.

104 HORSE FEEDIN<i.

Many people object to hard water as causing harshness in the
coat, and soft water is doubtless preferable. Yet it is pointed
out that no part of the country produces finer horses than the
limestone states of Vermont and Kentucky. Where rainwater
is used, it should be kept in clean and well-ventilated cisterns.

Marvin points out that everyone who has had any experience
in horse-keeping, well knows a change in water is generally
resented by the horse, and therefore the best results in training
will follow the use of not only pure water but the same water
all the time if possible. "I have observed that a horse does the
best with his home water. He acquires a taste for it, and is
quick to detect the taste in the different water that he is offered
away from home. It may seem the same to the trainer, may be
chemically the same, but the horse will detect the difference.
This only illustrates one of the thousand little influences that
may interfere with the trainer's work."

FEEDING STALLIONS. 105

CHAPTER VII.

Feeding Stallions.

Horses in the stud, like any other horses, should be fed
with an eye to their work. This does not demand exceptional
feeding so much as intelligent feeding. In other words, the
peculiar work of the stallion demands more than ordinary care
on the part of those in charge of him. It is neither necessary
nor desirable to vary much his rations during the breeding
season from those given to him at other times, or from those
given to the other horses in the stable, but as it is peculiarly
essential that he should be both well and strong, the eftect of
his diet must be more carefully watched. At such a time the
whole object of feeding should be to give strength and vitality.
So the food should be of the muscle-making rather than the
fattening variety. Protein is wanted rather than carbohy-
drates.

Therefore as a rule feed oats, and not corn ; bran plentifully*
oil-meal rarely, if at all. The stallion should have plenty of
hay. Avoid over-feeding, which will make him plethoric and
sluggish. Never give him more than he will eat up clean with
a relish. Give him grass or some green food when It can be
had ; otherwise use carrots with an unsparing hand. Horses,
ike men, enjoy an occasional alteration of diet, and in modera-
ion it is conducive to health : thus, a little sound dry corn now
and then in time of service or hard training is a good thing ; a
bundle or so of nicely harvested sheaf oats, as a substitute for
hay ; a few clean blades of corn fodder, and once or twice a
week — of tener is too relaxing — a scalded mash with a hand-
ful of oil meal in it is beneficial in every way.

Professor Stewart thinks that grain, especially when fed
alone,*should always be fed dry, so as to cause a greater flow
of saliva in its mastication, and as a stallion in full service is
always fed liberally with grain, it is not safe nor economical to
feed it without mixing with a portion of cut hay.

106 HORSE FEEDING.

laboo the idea that feeding some drug or nostrum will in-
crease the ability of a horse to get foals. Anything that adds
to his health, strength and vigor will increase his virility
or sexual power, simply because the sexual organs will
share the general tone of the system, while, on the contrary,
whatever tends to impair the health o* lessen the general
vigor of the system, will weaken the sexual org ins. The
only medicines to be given are those that may be necessary
to cure indigestion, for no stallion with his digestion out of
order will be a sure foal-getter. What can be accomplished by
care in this matter is shown by the experience of George S.
Hall, of Frederickton, O. He says that when he bought Mo-
hawk, Jr., the horse's digestive organs were in bad condition^
and he was subject to spasmodic colic. " I first fed him on
ground oats," says Mr. Hall, *• but soon found something else-
was needed. I mixed one pint of wheat flour, once a day, ia
one gallon of ground oats ; this helped the cause but still hfr
scoured too much. I increased the pint of flour to twice a day
— ^^ could see that it continued to help, but didn't stop the scour-
ing entirely, so I put one pint of the flour in one gallon of oats
three times a day. This method stopped the scours for about |
three weeks, when he was as bad as ever. ji

'' I concluded he wanted something to make digestion easier, i
so I put one tablespoonf ul of flaxseed meal in every feed. There j
appeared to be too much gas on his stomach ; to remedy that I ||
tried feeding one teaspoonf ul of saleratus every evening. I jj
mixed one gallon of fine ground oats with one pint of wheat '!
flour, one heaping tablespoonful of flaxseed meal, and one tea- |:
spoonful of saleratus ; these I mixed with one pint of boiling: j'
water. I fed him the same in the morning, except I kept out j!
the saleratus, and added one tablespoonful of salt. At noon 1 jl
fed him the ground oats, flaxseed and flour. I fed him clover j
hay ; it is softer and more easily digested. i

" He improved every day, and is now the surest stallion in |
Ohio. He had 109 patrons last season and got 80 colts, ^e has |
had 125 patrons this season, and I am confident nearly 100 are 'j
in foal. He is fat and remarkably vigorous. His digestive]
organs have been all right ever since I began feeding the in- ! '
gredients named. I venture to say there is not another stallioa

FEEDING STALLIONS. 107

in the world 25 years old that has had 125 patrons this year and
got 90 per cent, of them in foal."

Trainer Mike Bowerman tells as follows how he treats Wil-
ton, 2.49^ : •' His season, for the last two years, has begun in
February. We limit him to 50 mares, and never serve any
mare after August. On the first day of September Wilton's
shoes are taken off, he is turned into the paddock and runs out
about six hours every day — three in the morning and three in
the evening. His feed is cut down to six quarts of oats and
bran, with plenty of clean timothy hay each day, until Feb. 1.
Then we increase it to nine quarts. We still continue to let
him run in the lot until April 1, then begin to jog him from six
to seven miles each day, with a little more feed. We serve one
mare a day only ; we never blanket him in the stable. We have
a stall 20x20, light and airy for him. I can say further that he
gets 45 out of 50 mares in foal with this treatment."

108 HORSE FEEDING.

CHAPTER VIII.
Feeding Brood Mares.

When a mare is to be bred, it is wisest to make no change
whatever in her food or surroundings. The breeding season
comes at just the time of the year when it is natural to make
changes, and disregard of their influence doubtless causes many
instances of failure in foal-getting. To this fact may be traced
the prevalence of the notion that green clover tends to prevent
conception, the truth probably being that the clover does the
mischief not through any inherent peculiarity of its own,but as
any green food just substituted for the dry winter rations would
do. If the mare has been running on clover for any length of
time, there is no need of taking her from it when she is to be
bred. Indeed that would be more likely to make trouble.

While in foal the mare should be fed like the stallion in the
stud, on the muscle-making and not the fattening foods. Many
say she should have no corn whatever in any shape, but during
the winter a little now and then to keep her warm seldom does
harm. At the approach of foaling time it should be abandoned
altogether, as its heating tendencies would then be objectiona-
ble and it might cause excessive fever. Plenty of moist food
should be fed, roots of some sort, carrots, turnips, beets or
potatoes, grass when in season. Some of the wisest breeders
regard it the proper time for mares to bring forth their young
when grass is to be had in abundance, for no food so fitly pre-
pares them for the act.

The pregnant animul having to form blood for herself and
fcetus, therefore requires more food than one not in that condi-
tion.

All foods that tend to produce indigestion are to be carefully
guarded against. Such are rank grass and rapid growing grass,
over-ripe, fibrous hay or straw, any food that has been injured
and rendered musty, and food that is smutty or ergotised.

FEEDIXG BROOD MARES. 109

Water should never be given the mare until the chill is first
taken off. It is dangerous to give a pregnant mare a large
drink of cold or ice water : any food or water likely to cause
any disturbance in the digestive or other organs is to be
shunned. Among other things oil-cake is said to be dangerous
at this time.

When foaling time is at hand, be particularly careful that the
food is not in the least smutty or mouldy, and that only the
best of grain or hay be fed. Give her plenty of pure, fresh
drinking water, and of salt. A few days before and after foal-
ing feed very light for fear of scouring the colt. Then grad-
ually increase the mare's food to about all she will eat up clean.
Remembering that protein is the most important constituent of
milk, feed the mare on oats, bran, good clean shorts, carrots,
etc., and as soon as grass comes turn mare and colt out in the
same paddock by themselves nights. Barley and the same bulk
of floe wheat bran mixed together will make a very good food
for brood mares for the summer, but it should be fed mixed
with moistened cut hay.

Great care should be taken not to heat the blood of the mare
while suckling a foal. Remember, too, that the recent exhaus-
tive investigations of milk have demonstrated that it has a great
influence on whatever animal consumes it, whether babe, calf or
colt. It is generally conceded that the best way to administer
medicine is through the mother, and likewise that poisons can
be thus effectively administered. Therefore while the colt is
sucking, you are feeding both mother and offspring with the
food eaten by the mare, and as that which her mature constitu-
tion can stand may be fatal to the delicate foal, you must not
content yourself with noticing the effect of the food on the par-
ent only. Acid or fermented food of any kind, for instance,
may not safely be fed to mares that are giving milk. Colts
have often been known to die because apples have been fed to
the mothers.

110 ' HORSE FEEDING.

CHAPTER IX.

Colt Feeding.

No horse food topic is more important than that of colt feed-
ing, none is more discussed, and on none are there more diverse
opinions and practices. Yet if we apply to it the same reason-
ing we use in feeding babes, the subject does not seem very
complicated or abstruse after all. For instance, take the mat-
ter of weaning. We know it is better for both babe and mother
that she should nurse the child. It is the same with the mare i^
and colt. We know further that nany mothers cannot give
their babies milk enough, and that the natural food must be
supplemented or replaced by other food, and that the best sup-
plement or substitute is other milk, notably that of the cow.
But cow's milk is not in all respects like human milk, nor is it
like mare's milk. Therefore when it is to take the place of
either, it is better prepared to resemble more nearly the food it
replaces. In the case of colts this is done by skimming the
cow's milk, for mare's milk contains no cream. It often hap-
pens that babies are fed artificially from the start, but this sel-
dom occurs with colts. They are rarely weaned before a month
old, and the norm il lime for weaning is five or six months af-
ter foaling. Sometimes before weaning takes place the mare's
milk is supplemented by cow's milk, but seldom satisfactorily.
If the mare does not give milk enough, the general opinion is
in favor of weaning at once and substituting cow's. If, how-'
ever, cow's milk is to be added to the colt's diet before wean- '
ing, it is wise at the outset to dilute it by adding two parts of ^
water to one of milk, and to this should be added a little sugar.
Gradually change the proportions for a month till no water at all i
is added. |

To be sure, the use of cow's milk for colts either before or •
after weaning has had many critics, but the weight of opinion i
now is in favor of it as a food both safe and economical. The -
great trotting-stallion and sire George Wilkes was raised on i

COLT FEEDING.

Ill

cow's milk. Belle Hamlin had all she wanted of it from the
time she was weaned until grass came next spring. "Aurelius"
argues strongly in favor of its use, and says he is satisfied
irom his own experience that every stock farm should have a
number of good milking-cows as a part of its outfit. This milk
should be set in creamers, so that the milk of the morning may
be skimmed at evening, and vice versa. The skim milk should be
warmed to be lukewarm before it is given. The cream that is
skimmed off is of no value whatever to a growing colt, but on
the contrary is a detriment. Besides, it may be churned, or
sold in quart cans at a price that will go far to pay for the ex-
pense involved in the keeping of cows. Smith, Powell &
Lamb, of Syracuse, have a centrifugal separator, and after sep-
arating the cream give the milk still warm from the cows.
Dudley Miller of Oswego, a well posted writer on horses,
agrees with Smith, Powell & Lamb in the opinion that it would
pay a horse breeder to have a herd of cows for that purpose,
and feed the skim milk, even if he threw the cream away.
But, as the cream may pay the whole expense, it will be seen
at a glance that this most excellent food may be obtained at
practically no cost at all.

In a recent colt-feeding experiment at the Iowa Station it
was found that '' ten pounds of separated milk had about the
same feeding value as one pound of the best grain mixture, and
considering the fact that the first period covered two of our
severest winter months (January and February), and the
second occupied a time of milder temperature, it is probable
that the milk had even higher feeding value than the results
indicate in this case. The results of utilizing separated milk
for feeding colts may be regarded as highly satisfactory. Those
who have had experience in the care of imported stock of this
age soon after reaching this country, after the hardship inci-
dent to a rough sea voyage and the changes met in passing
from one continent to another, are aware how difficult it is to
make a satisfactory improvement under these conditions. In
this case every animal responded promptly and made uninter-
rupted progress. That the satisfactory results obtained were
to a considerable extent due to the milk fed during the winter
is not unlikely."

112 HORSE FEEDING.

It is probable that the objections raised to xceding cows' milk
have been chiefly due to feeding the cream. Mr. Belmont gave
the whole milk of his rich Jerseys to his running foals and they
did not develop satisfactorily. Had he skimmed it first, the
result might have been difierent. Where the deep setting sys-
tem prevails and the skim milk is kept sweet, it is surely worth
a trial, but nothing that has soured should ever be fed to a colt.

In the Iowa test a change was made from whole milk to sep-
arated, and it is worth noticing that the amount had to be re-
duced for a day or two to prevent scouring, a precaution that
should always be taken in the use of separated milk.

It is now common to begin giving solid food to colts when
they are two or three months old — in fact as early as they can
be induced to take it. This is in addition to the mare's milk or
cow's milk, according as the weaning is late or early. The
usual way of making a start is to put the mare's food low
where the foal can get at it ; instinct or the spirit of imitation
will lead him to take a bite. Oats and bran are the usual foods,
some breeders adding corn meal until the colt is weaned. But
the corn is to be used sparingly at all stages of the colt's
growth, and likewise any of the fattening foods. It is bone
and muscle that the colt needs, and the nitrogenous foods are
what should be given to him.

Flaxseed jelly, used judiciously, will cause a foal to grow
rapidly, materially helping to keep the digestive organs in a
healthy condition, and giving a fine development to the whole
form. It may be made by boiling flaxseed twenty minutes in
from six to eight times its bulk of water, forming a jelly.
Two tablespoonfuls of it may be mixed with a handful of oats
and a handful of bran, or may be stirred into a quart of waim
skim-milk. Begin by giving it once a day, and after a week or
ten days, twice a day, 11 a. m. and 4 p. m. being as good times
as any. After a colt has learned to eat flaxseed jelly, he is
usually fond of it, but it may be necessary to teach him first to
take the oats and bran alone.

The use of such an adjunct to the mother's food as this is par-
ticularly desirable if the mare is put to work. At such a time
a reasonable amount of reasonable work will not result in seri-
ous Injury to the colt, but if the flaxseed jelly is not given, lie •

COLT FEEDING. 113

may not grow as rapidly as he would if the dam were doing
very little work. While the mare is in the field, there is usually
no necessity of drawing any milk from her, but when taken to
the barn she should be cooled off before allowing the foal to
suck.

From weaning time on, the question of feeding grain without
stint or even liberally is a debatable one. Opponents of the
practice characterize it as a '' forcing process" and refer to it as
'' hot-house growth," while its advocates claim there is no such
thing as forcing the growth of a colt unnaturally. They say
that with colts as with children the appetite is insatiable, and
that if exercise enough is provided, there is no harm in giving
all that can be eaten. When Chimes was a yearling he got 15
quarts of oats daily, besides plenty of grass and hay, and he
ate his oats clean. According to ^r. Williams, Axtellas a two
year old was fed in proportion even more liberally. Dr. J. W.
Day, Dr. Thomas S- Flood, and other successful colt handlers
testify their belief that there is no such thing as "forciag
colts." A. J. Feek says, in '' Every Man His Own Trainer," in
his opinion there is more injury done weanling foals by not
feeding than by over-feeding ; they should be fed what good
hay they can eat and from four to six quarts of oats a day.

H. D. McKinney, a well-known breeder of Janesville, Wis.,
reports that he has found it advisable in raising his trotting
coles to feed them liberally and have them looking well to the
purchaser. He gets them to eating grain as early as possible.
In the pasture he has an enclosure 16 feet square into which the
youngsters can go, and he keeps a box of oats and bran and
some salt where they can get at it at all times. The little fel-
lows soon begin to nibble and before they are four months old
they can eat a good deal. After being weaned he feeds them
at night all they will eat of steamed barley and bran. In the
morning they get oats and in the middle of the day carrots. If
the pasture is short in the spring he gives them the benefit of a
grain ration ; he does not let them shrink. By this system the
next fall he has mature horses. Then he breaks them and lets
them alone awhile, afterwards testing them for speed. He be-
lieves in always feeding liberally. He gives them all they will
eat of barley and bran.

114 HORSE FEEDING.

Another Western breeder says he feeds small rations five
times a day for six weeks after weaning and he always has
water where the colts can get it. Sometimes he finds a colt a
little stubborn about drinking and occasionally in such a case
he puts cow's milk in the water, but ordinarily after being shut
up for twenty-four hours the colt will get thirsty and drink.
At the end of six weeks he reduces the number of feeding times
to four, and when the colt gets to thriving well he drops down
to three. The feed he uses depends much on what has been
raised on the farm that year. He goes more by his balance
sheet than he does by a balanced ration. He uses whatever he
can raise or buy cheap. He feeds crushed oats, bran, oil-cake,
and silage from which the cobs have been removed, and gives
turnips for variety.

At the convention where these beliefs and practices were
given, another speaker said he would feed colts all they could
eat of oats until they were turned out on grass. They would
not fall back after being turned out, and by this system of gen-
erous feeding he had been able to raise two-year-olds as big as
three or four-year-olds. Another has found that colts thus fed
would fall away when turned on grass and lose all they had
gained. He did not use grain with his colts, but kept them
looking well on cornstalks. He had bought colts that had been
fed oats from the first, but they did not do well for him. An-
other also had experienced the same trouble ; the colts did not
hold their flesh when turned on grass. Still another was also
of the opinion that colts ought not to be fed heavily.

John M. Stahl, writing in the National Stockman, said: " A
mixture of equal parts by measure of oats, wheat bran, and
shelled corn I find is the best grain for colts ; and corn fodder
may make one-third of the rough feed, the other two-thirds be-
ing clover hay cut in good season and nicely cured. Colts
should be liberally fed, but it is a mistake to feed them largely
of grain ; yet I would give them a little larger proportion of
grain than the work horses during the winter. It pays to push
colts, providing the pushing through the food box and manger
be so adjusted that the animal will not suffer from indigestion.
Walter J. Bennett, in a communication to the New England
Homastead, declares it strange farmers do not see that the first

• COLT FEEDING. 115

three years make the framework of the colt. " Whether that
framework be large or small depends on two things,— the breed
and the feed. If the breed is large, the colt when reared will
have the large frame, but if food of sufficient quantity and
right quality is withheld, nature at once begins to shrink the
frame to suit the feed. Hence to withhold food, in either quan
tity or quality, is to undo all that has been done in the way of
breeding. If, on the other hand, food has been supplied suffi-
cient to carry out nature's idea, she goes on with it and exe-
cutes, so to speak, the original plan, and enlarges and improves
on it. The weanling colt should have four quarts of oats every
day from fall till May. The yearling should have as much at
least, and the two-year old more, if it is desired to make heavy
weights and produce a horse that will sell, and all this in addi-
tion to all the hay and grass it wants to eat. This is just as
important in producing roadsters or drafts. After the frame is
made and it is desired to keep horses on the cheap plan and let
them rough it, that can be done with safety. The frame made,
they can live ind prosper on hay, but if the colt is treated thus,
it is at the expense of future usefulness."

These varying opinions show that the question is by no means
settled. Some points, however, are clear. It is evidently a
matter, primarily, of comparative economy. Health is a sec-
ondary consideration, or rather it is not much affected one way
or another. It is a problem of growth, and whether it pays to
feed liberally for the sake of early maturity and better appear-
ance. Without doubt, it is poor economy to feed no grain what-
ever, but the proportion of grain to the rest of the diet is an
economical question that is to be answered according to cir-
cumstances. The New England farmer, for intance, whose
main crop is hay, will hardly profit much by exchanging all of
it for Western oats to feed to his colts, when he can keep them
in fair condition on hay, grass, a few apples, potatoes and the
like, with some skim milk for the weanlings. In the grain re-
gions of the West, on the other hand, the natural and economi-
cal colt food would be oats and bran,

The actual results of the two plans of feeding are shown by
experiment conducted by Henry C. Wallace of Iowa, tried on
four colts, foaled in May, 1888, out of low grade draft mares

116 HORSE FEEDING.

and out of imported percherons. They were allowed plenty of
oats till November, when they were weaned. After weaning
two of them were turned into a field of 160 acres, containing
second growth clover, corn-stalks, oat stubble, etc. They
stayed in this field with a number of other horses until next
spring, receiving no grain and no hay, except at times when
the snow was too deep to enable them to reach other feed. The
only shelter was that afforded by the two straw stacks. In
April, 1889, these two colts were put in the stable and fed a
little grain and hay for twoor three weeks. Early in May they
were turned out on wild pasture, staying there until fall, when
they were again turned in the clover and stalk-field, and received
the same treatment as was given during the previoas winter.
In April, 1890, they were fed a little grain and hay as before.
In May they were turned into wild pasture and received a small
amount of hay. Early m November they were weighed, and
the team weighed 2,725 pounds.

The two other colts were treated somewhat differently.
After weaning, the feed of oats was continued, Ihe colts being
stabled at night and receiving oats and tame hay night and
morning. Late in December a small amount of corn was added
to the daily feed. During the day they ran in a blue grass and
wild-grass pasture. In November the grain ration was again
given and continued through the winter as before, the team be-
ing turned into pasture early in May. They ran in the blue
grass pasture until November, 1890, when they were weighed.
The team weighed 3,050, being then thirty months old, the
same age as the other team when it was weighed. The team
fed again ate altogether, not counting feed before weaning, be-
tween 128 and 130 bushels of oats and 35 bushels of corn, the
feed bill amounting to about $30. The other team had about 25
bushels of corn and oats, worth between $4.50 and $5. The
weight alone was not all the difference made by the feed. While
all the colts kept in nice smooth flesh all the time, there was a
marked difference in the development of the two teams irrespec-
tive of weight. The team fed grain broadened out proportion-
ately at all points and showed that symmetrical development so
pleasing to the eye of the stockman in whatever animal it may
be found. While the colts that * 'rough it" were not by any

COLT FEEDING. if?

means stunted, yet in looking at them one felt that there was
something lacking. They kept in good flesh but there was
more middle than is usually liked in a horse and too much taper
at the ends — too much leg.

The conclusion of the whole matter may be summed up with
the advice, " Feed as much grain as you can afford." Mr.
Wallace's grain bll for his best fed pair was only $35, — surely
not ruinous, — but that is a good deal different from what A. T.
Maxim figured it would cost a New England farmer to raise a
pair of grain-fed colts, and as Mr. Maxim was a New England
farmer himself, and a brainy one too, his judgment and expe-
ience on this point are worth noting. He supposed two mares
are bred to a well-bred stallion at a service fee of $25 for each
The owner, presumed to be a Maine farmer, will make the
mares work enough to pay their keep, so the cost of the two
foals at weaning time may be reckoned at $50. Then if the
owner feeds them after the approved method, which is to keep
them growing to their greatest capacity and looking smooth
and nice all the time, Mr. Maxim figured it will take eight
quarts of oats a day for each one for the first year to do this»
or about 150 bushels for the year at a cost of about $60. After
the first year it may not take as much grain to keep them in first-
class shape. But the cash cost of the grain, enough to keep
them up to the standard condition for the next three years, can-
not be estimated at less than $50 a year. And for most New
England farmers this means paying out that amount of cash^
as but few of them raise their own grain, so that the two colts
at four years of age will have cosft in money paid out $260 ; and
if at that age they are sold for $400, the breeder is left $140 as
a recompense for the hay rnd grass that the colts have con-
sumed during the four years of their existence, and also for the
time and care that has been bestowed on them. It may be said
that colts brought up in that way will sell for more than $200
apiece. True some of them will, but then again others will not
gell for more than $150.

If the cost is as high in New England as Mr. Maxim thus es-
timated, it is clear that heavy grain-feeding may be allowable
for the owner of a single colt, or for the owner of a large breed-
ing establishment with capital behind it ; but yet be out of the

118 HORSE FEEDING.

question for the average farmer raising a few horses for
market.

It turns out, then, to be in the long run more a matter of cap-
ital than of economy. And right here it will be well to state
that it costs a little more, pound for pound, to produce a good
horse than a good steer. Any horse that is worth raising will
bring at least ten cents a pound, and the colts Mr. Maxim ar-
gued about he supposed will sell for 20 cents a pound. The
jiteer sells for two or three cents. E. W. Stewart gives an ac-
<3ount of feeding three colts whose gain was in round numbers
two pounds each daily, which was as economically made as that
of steers. Boussingault, of France, fed several colts on
weighed rations. Three weighing 1,106 pounds, ate 19.8 pounds
of hay and 7 pounds of oats. This was in the equivalent of
bay 2.6 per cent, of live weight daily, and gave a growth of 1.2
pounds daily, as good as an equal amount of hay would make
on steers. Prof. J. W. Sanborn, however, has made some tests
that led him to think the horse will not make as effective use
of coarse foods as will the steer. These foods cost something
more a pound of digestible matter than does hay, so that it is
probable horse flesh costs slightly more than steer flesh, yet
not enough more to cut any figure when the relative values of
the growths are considered.

Whenever capital permits, then, feed grain to the colts. Oats
a,re the favorite variety, but they are not to be used alone.
There is no single colt-food any more than there is any single
boy-food. Variety is even more important to growing than to
mature horses, and it is never unimportant. It is believed, in-
deed, that a mixture of other grains is preferable to oats alone.
That would seem to be indicated by the results of tests at the
Maine Experiment Station, one in 1890, when oats were com-
pared with a mixture of peas and wheat middlings, the other
in 1891, when the comparason was with gluten meal, linseed
meal, and middlings.

The outcome of the experiment in 1890 was, that oats pro-
duced less growth than an equal weight of a mixture of peas
and middlings, the relation of growth being as 100 to 111.
The fact that in this experiment peas were used as a part of the
grain ration, a food that in the market is comparatively costly,

COLT FEEDING. 119?

seemed to be a good reason for repeating the experiment with
commercial foods that are more common, bear a less price, and
are comparatively nitrogenous in character.

In the second experiment, which was made in the spring of

1891, two colts were used. No. 1 was a grade Percheron filly

eleven months old, and No. 2 was a grade Percheron gelding

eleven months old.

They were fed through two perioes on the following rations :

10 lbs. hay
f Colt

\ (6 lbs. grain mixture

Period 1 / f 10 lbs. hay

Colt 2

{

lbs. grain mixture
10 lbs. hay
r Colt

\ (7 lbs. oats

Period 2 f f 10 lbs. hay

t Colt 2 ^

[ 6 lbs. oats
The grain mixture consisted of middlings, gluten meal and
linseed meal compounded in the ratio of 60, 35 and 15. The aver-
age daily cost of the ration in Period 1 was about 12 cents, and
in Period 2 about 14 cents, a difference of two cents a day for
each animal.

The feeding began March 12, and the animals were first
weighed March 17 and 18. Period 1 continued 43 days, and
Period 2, 41 days.

The colts were tied in stalls and were given free exercise in a
large yard during all pleasant weather. So far as could be de-
termined, no unfavorable conditions entered the experiment.
The results are stated as follows :

Colt No. 1 Colt No. 2
Weight of colts at end of Period 1 776 lbs. 652 lbs.

Weight of colts at beg'ng of Period 1 711 lbs. 602 lbs.

Gain in weight in 43 days 65 lbs. 50 lbs.

Daily gain on mixed grains 1.51 lbs. 1.16 lbs»

Weight of colts at end of Period 2 794 lbs. 690 lbs.

Weight of colts at beg'ng of Period 2 776 lbs. 652 lbs.

Gain in weight in 41 days 18 lbs. 38 lbs.

Daily gain on oats .43 lbs. .93 lbs.

120

HORSE FEEDING.

These figures, however, do not prove that oats themselves
are poor food so much as they prove it to be unwise to let the
colts have for grain oats only. It will take other tests, and
thorough ones too, with a grain mixture containing oats against
one without oats, to convince most breeders that oats are not
desirable as a part of the ration.

One of the oat mixtures highly commended consists of equal
parts of oats and wheat bran, with about one-third their weight
of corn.

Professor Henry suggests that if clover hay and oat straw are
available, the following ration, (based on 1,000 lbs. weight of
animal, and to be reduced according to size,) might be tried
to advantage: 5 lbs. corn; 5 lbs. oats; 2 lbs. oil-meal; 10 lbs.
clover hay ; 10 lbs. straw. Corn stover may be substituted in
part for the clover hay and straw.

Another writer says: ''There is a prevailing opinion that
clover hay is not fit to feed a horse at all. While I would not
feed a grown road or track horse clover, I would feed no other
when the same animal is young. If any who read this are
sceptical, let them test it and see. Feed one colt timothy, an-
other clover, or feed the same one each kind of hay at different
times. Then throw out the manure where the rain can fall on
it and as it washes away the digested portion, you will be sur-
prised to see how completely the clover is digested and how en-
tirely undigested is the timothy."

Xnother writer advises the following combination for colts
seven months old or more : 4 lbs. cut clover hay ; 1 lb. ground
oats ; 3 lbs. fine wheat bran ; % lb. linseed meal. Let the cut
clover hay be slightly moistened, so that the ground feed will
adhere to it ; mix it all together and give in two feeds, morning
and evening, giving the colts the run of the yard in pleasant
weather. Ihis writer believes the most important food for the
growth and even development of colts is clover, hay or wheat
bran. " Clover hay can usually be obtained as cheaply as tim-
othy, and in many places at less cost. Good clover hay con-
tains double the muscle-forming matter of timothy. Wheat
bran is comparatively rich in muscle-forming matter, and its
ash is rich in phosophate of lime to grow good solid bones."

There is, nevertheless, a great difference of opinion in regard

COLT FEEDING. 121

to the colt feeding value of wheat bran. Some have an idea
that it has a tendency to produce colic. Others claim that it is
a fruitful cause of worms. Most Northern breeders, however,,
regard it a profitable food in winter. While supplying the ma-
terial for making bone, it also aids in keeping the bowels from
becoming constipated, a matter that should be kept constantly
in mind. If bran or oil-meal is not used to avoid the risk of
stoppage, some moist food should be supplied, and this is in-
deed a good thing under almost any circumstances. Sweet
apples are almost as good as grass for colts. Carrots and other
roots are a great aid, and even potatoes are of much benefit.
Sugar both prevents stoppage and improves the appearance of
the colt. The way it is used is to dissolve the sugar in water
and pour it on the chaff or cut hay, taking care that the food is
well mixed, and in a day or two the colt will be found licking
the sides of the mangers long after the last morsel of chaflf has
been eaten.

Diarrhoea is as dangerous as constipation, and the two often
bear the relation of cause and efiect, but more commonly in the
first few months of the colt's life. Prevent or relieve constipa-
tion, and you remove one fertile source of diarrhoea in foals.
Another cause not rare is the eating of hay, straw, etc., whea
the foal has not yet the necessary teeth for masticating such
food, and the stomach and bowels are not enough developed for
digestion. In foals that,have died of diarrhoea large accumula-
tions of unchewed hay are sometimes found wadded in the
stomach, while in other cases the discharges are freely mixed
with broken, undigested straws, which act as a serious irrita-
tion. The eating by the foal of hay, straw, and rubbish should,
be prevented by placing him in a clean pasture, where such
material is not available, or if he is kept in the stable or barn-
yard, by muzzling and thus confining him strictly to a moder-
ate allowance of his mother's milk.

This milk, though, is itself a common cause of diarrhoea.
Sometimes the foal takes too much of it, which can be prevent-
ed by partly milking the mare at the right times. Sometimes al-
lowing the foal free access to his mother after he has been kept
from her till very hungry, brings on the disease. More often
it is caused by milk that is unhealthy, either from theill-health ,

122 HORSE FEEDING.

improper feeding, or over-heating of the dam. Milk is a secre-
tion that is affected in a remarkable degree by the health of the
mother. Food and water exercise a material influence on the
-quality of the fluid, often acting in a way that is not under-
;Stood, causing changes neither the chemist nor the microscopist
•can define.

Some of the experiments carried on some years ago in France
led to the conclusion that certain grains^iven to cows produced
tnilk which was unfit for infants, and the final result of the in-
quiry was to show that the child was not merely the most sen-
sitive test for milk derived from cows fed on brewer's grains,
but was in fact the only test. The ^ost careful analysis did
not reveal any ingredient that could be referred to as the cause
•of the indigestible character of the fluid.

Therefore if a foal suffers from diarrhoea and no apparent
cause exists, try changing the mare's food, even if she appears
in perfect health.

There is some diflSculty in treating cases of indigestion in
very young animals, which readily succumb to continuous pain.
Sedative enemas are safe and effective in cases of colic, as they
relieve pain and afford time for other remedies to act. A dose
of castor oil (2 to 6 ounces according to age) may be given
At once, to be followed by an enema of warm water, containing
two drachms to one-half ounce of laudanum, or, if no means of
giving an enema are at hand, one or two ounces of ordinary
chalk mixture may be given. If the pain continues, flannels
wrung out of hot water may be applied to the abdomen until
the pain is relieved.

All through the period of colthood the amount of food should
foe carefully looked to, as any food in excess of the amount
digested is not only wasted but also is an injury, promoting in-
digestion, colic, aud worms.

A good magnifying glass will by an examination of the drop-
pings, show if the grain is all assimulated or not. You can
keep the colt in good health.and fine condition with ii little care,
and not be crowding him with grain and then condition pow-
ders to try to counteract the over feeding.

After he has been broken, never be afraid to give a colt a
liorse's ration if you make him do a horse's work.

COLT FEEDING.

123J

Marvin, who made such a success at Palo Alto with Sunol
and other fast ones, says in his book on "Training the Trotter" i
"As we are now working our colt the reader may properly be
reminded that it is important to see that the youngster is kept
strong and stout. A good diet at this stage is, besides the usual
hay, ground oats for the morning meal, and at night a dish of
bran steamed, the right proportion being about three parts of
oats to one of barley. Give the colts all they will eat up clean.
A colt cannot get too fat before he is two years old. Between
his growth and his work all he can eat will be assimilated.
The rule is that colts go back in condition after weaning. This
is not as it should be, for a colt that is properly fed and cared
for will improve after weaning. The fact that his growth is ar-
rested shows that after weaning he has insufficient or unsuita-
ble food, and every breeder should be watchful at this period,,
for a set-back in the first year is never made up for. Feed him
well and especially if you are working the colt see that he i&
getting plenty of good food. You will not hurt him by giving"
him too much at this age, for he will not eat too much."

Says A. J. Feek, speaking of how to develop a two-year-old r
"As you increase the work increase the feed ; give soft feed
once a day— at night— and plenty of good timothy hay, except
on the morning of the day you expect to speed him. That
morning it would be advisable not to fill his stomach with hay,
—wait till after he has had his work. As soon as grass makes>
its appearance, give him a bite every day, letting him eat tea
or fifteen minutes toward night after his work, as many times
grass will make a horse puff and blow if he has it before he i&
speeded. Still it is acknowledged that Dr. Grass is many times
the best veterinary we can employ."

124 HORSE FEEDING.

CHAPTER X.
Feeding Sick Horses.

When a horse is sick, he needs the food that will nourish him
most and at the same time require the least exertion. More-
over, it must be food that will encourage his appetite, or at any
rate not repel it. In health he is dainty, and in sickness he is
fastidious. Therefore be then more careful than ever that the
food is fresh, sweet-smelling, and wholesome.

Bran is by all odds the most favorite food for the invalid
horse. It acts as a laxative, is frequently tempting to the appe-
tite, and is easy of digestion. There is no part of general
treatment more universal than offering this as a change of food.
If a horse is very weary, and his powers of digestion are weak-
ened in consequence, induce him to take a warm bran mash*
which comfortably distends the stomach, and satisfies any crav-
ing for food, thereby enabling him readily to lie down and rest
his enfeebled system, until repose restores its wonted vigor.
Does he show slight symptoms of cold or fever, a warm bran
mash is a convenient plan of steaming, and consequently sooth-
ing the irritable mucous membranes of the air passages ; it is
a substitute for the more stimulating diet he is accustomed to,
and gently promotes the activity of the digestive apparatus.
If he is incapacitated by lameness, a lower diet than that he
gets when in full work is judicious, and bran is selected. If it
is necessary to administer purgative medicine, a bran mash or
two renders the bowels more susceptible to its action, and a
smaller portion of the drug is therefore required to produce the
desired effect, there being, at the same time, less risk of pain-
ful spasms accompanying its operation. Bran mashes may be
given hot or cold — cold they are perhaps quite as grateful to
the horse ; but the nibbling of the hot mash in catarrhal affec-
tions is particularly beneficial, from the necessary inhalations
of the steam arising therefrom.

FEEDING SICK HORSES 125

As in sickness the horse, like man, is weak, save him the
work of grinding hard oats or dry hay. Crushed oats and bran
mixed half and half, make a ration easily swallowed, nutritious,
and usually acceptable. Oatmeal gruel is one of the best of
foods at such a time. It should not be forced on the invalid,
but a pail of it should be slung in his box, out of which he will
soon begin to drink if water is denied him. It is more often
badly than well made, being too thin or not boiled long enough.
To make it right a pound of meal should be put in a gallon of
water, and the mixture be stirred steadily till it boils.

When oats are oflered and refused, many convalescent horses
can be coaxed into eating if one pint of oats be mixed with one
pint of barley and both steamed until the barley bursts. Then
add a handful of wheat bran and feed slightly, warm.

Linseed is useful. It is nutritious, and, from its oleaginous
nature, soothing to the frequently irritable mucous membrane
of the alimentary canal, and hence is to be particularly recom-
mended in the treatment of sore throats ; nor is its bland effect
local only, its more general influence being particularly observ-
able in affections of the kidneys. It may be' given either boiled,
forming, when cool, a gelatinous mass, and being mixed in that
state with bran, or the liquid after boiling may be offered as a
drink.

It must be remembered that all food must be taken by the
horse as he desires it. In sickness more than at any other
time one realizes the force of the old adage that you may lead
ahorse to water, but you can't make him drink. If he will
not drink nor eat when he is sick, if the most tempting viands
have no effect on him, there is nothing to do but wait his
pleasure — or rather his need. When he has no appetite, the
conclusion is patent that his stomach is not in the fit condition
to digest anything, and it is then worse than useless to try to
force anything into it.

Hay softened by scalding will often be taken with a relish
when refused before. Hay tea will sometimes create a desire
for food. It is made by pouring water over good hay in a
large basket, and allowing it to stand until cool, then pouring
off the liquid. Corn on the cob is often eaten when everything
else is refused. Bread may be tried, also apples. Roots are

126 HORSE FEEDING.

extremely useful at such times, being both tempting and ben-
eficial. The quantity given should be small, one medium-sized
carrot cut lengthways in slender slivers ; one small yellow tur-
nip cut very fine in dice shaped pieces ; three rpedium potatoes
cut dice shape ; and, if it can be obtained, one or two heads of
endive. When such unusual articles of food are offered, the
groom should be cautious not to wash the root?, but to rub ofi*
any dust that may adhere to the skin ; endive may be washed
and shaken reasonably dry.

If the animal can be persuaded to drink milk, that will sup-
port him for days. Some horses will drink it, others will re-
fuse it. Three or four gallons of sweet milk may be given
during the day, in which may be stirred three or four fresh
eg^s to each gallon of milk.

Bottled beer or bottled porter in cases of great weakness have
produced most satisfactory results. The beer or porter should
be slightly warmed and a pint in one drink given at short inter-
vals. After the third pint has been swallowed a perceptible
gain in strength ought to be manifest ; five, or at the most, six
pints, given within four hours, should save a sinking horse,
that is, when exhaustion is the adverse condition.

Never give a sick horse cold water.

In cases of constipation, if the case is not complicated with
colicky symptoms, a change to light, sloppy diet, linseed gruel
or tea, with plenty of exercise, is all that is required. Remem-
ber that in adult horses this trouble is usually due to long feed-
ing on dry, innutritions food, scanty water supply or lack of
exercise, and removal of cause will remove the eflfect. If some-
thing else has brought it on, consult a veterinarian. Likewise
with diarrhoea, if it is due to faulty food or water, a change
sufiices. Its external causes, so to speak, are mouldy or musty
food, stagnant water, being kept on low, marshy pastures, ex-
posure during cold nights, or low, damp stables — in any of
which cases it is easy to discern and remove the trouble. As
with constipation, if other causes appear to be at work, get
skilled advice.

Feek says, speaking of a fast three-year old in training : "If
his bowels get loose, a few handfuls of wheat every day would
check them, or a few slices of stale bread from your table are

FEEDING SICK HORSES. 127

soothing and have a tendency to regulate them. Many horses
have a natural looseness of the bowels, especially if they go
out into a crowd wnere there is any excitement. If you give
medicine to check the bowels, it is dangerous. You will also
be liable to check his speed several seconds, as I have seen occur
in a number of cases. You will remember that it is sometimes
dangerous in the human family also to check a diarrhoea too
soon, as it causes a worse and sometimes fatal sickness. The
fact is, keep as near nature as possible under all circumstances
and you will succeed if success is possible."

For horses afflicted with heaves, or broken wind, the diet
should be confined to the best of food and the smallest quantity.
A little hay once a day is enough. The animal should invari-
ably be watered before feeding ; never directly after a meal. It
is a good plan to dampen the food slightly to lay the dust. Do
not work the animal immediately after a meal. Exertion, when
the stomach is full, invariably aggravates the symptons. Turn-
ing on pasture gives relief. Carrots, potatoes, or turnips,
chopped and mixed with oats or corn, are a good diet.

With a trifling expenditure of time and money, an
old Harness can be made to appear as good as new
and its durability greatly increased by using

Frank Miller's Harness Dressing.

With it a Harness can be dressed as quickly as the
sponge can be passed over the surface and in five min-
utes is ready for use.

For Harness that has become hard and dry there
is nothing equal to

Frank Miller's Harness Oil

which penetrates the leather and keeps it permanently
soft and pliable.

For cleaning Harness use only Soaps free from
rosins and excess of alkali. For this purpose our

Frank Miller's Harness Soap

is unequalled.

For cleaning, softening and finishing Harness and
Black Leather articles at a single operation,

Frank Miller's Harness Composition

is highly endorsed by many of the largest users of this
class of articles in the United States and Great Britain.

These preparations are conceded to be the Standard
and are used by the Cavalry of the United States
Army, by the various departmenis of the Government
where Harness is used, and by Express, Livery and
Private Stables everywhere.

SOLD BY HARNESS DEALERS.

RECEIVED
THE HIGHEST AWARDS
and FOUR i^EDALS at
WORLD'S FAIR

Chicago, 1893

Every owner of Harness

SHOULD USE

FRANK MILLER'S

HAEITESS DB,ESSIN&

For Harness, Buggy Top, Saddle, Fly Net,
Travelling Bag, Military Equipments, Etc.

GiTM a beautiful finish, which will not peel or crack
off, smut or crockjby handling; does not lose its lustre
by a^; dust will not stick to work finished with it
Is HOT L VABinsH. Contains no Turpentine, Benzine,
Naphtha, Alcohol, or other injurioas articles. It is
dimply a flniahing drosaing.

DIRECTIONS.

Let yottr UaiAer be clean andperfecUy dry. Apply with a
clean, soft epDn^e or brush, giving a quick eaav motion, and
aUow the drwuing to dry nndiatnrbed. If a high gloss la re-
quired, give a aecond application after the flrct it thoroughly
dry. ThU dretting will not work tcith gum Iragacanth, or any
other mtofur*.

Keep the oao dowd tightly when not in u«e.

PUT UP IN CA-NS, KEGS, AND BARRELS.

MANUFACTURED BY

THE FRANK MILLER CO

NEW YORK-

50LD BY HAFUNESS AND SADDLERY HOUSES.