99
Harness 99
Carriages 100
Servants 101

SHOEING 106

STABLE MANAGEMENT.

FOOD.

Gram (_chunnah_).

In the north of India the chief food on which horses are fed is gram, the
seed of one of the pea tribe of plants. It is a crop that ripens in the
beginning of the summer, when it is harvested, and the grain thrashed out
by driving cattle over it in a circle. The dry stalks, that are broken up
into small pieces, are used for feeding cattle on, and are known as "missa
bhoosa," in contradistinction to the stalks of the wheat when submitted to
the same process, and which is known as "suffaid," or white bhoosa. The
price of gram varies very greatly, according to the locality and season,
and is a subject of much speculation and gambling amongst the native
community. I have known it as high as 7 seers (14 lbs. weight), and as low
as a maund (80 lbs. weight), per rupee. It also varies greatly in
quality, depending on the locality in which it is grown and the conditions
under which it has been harvested, and is by native grain-sellers known as
first and second class gram. Good gram, when a small quantity is taken up
and examined in the palm of the hand, should be free from sand, dirt,
small pieces of stick, straws, or other sorts of seeds; in fact, it
should, what is known in the trade, "run clean." Each individual grain
should be round and plump, as if the husk was well filled. It should not
be shrivelled up and wrinkled, and be free from worm or weevil marks,
which can be told by there being a small round hole in it, and the grain,
when cracked, being found hollowed out and eaten away. Generally the
weevil (kirim) will be found in the cavity, but if not, it will be full of
a fine powder. Weevil-eaten gram cannot be mistaken, and denotes that the
grain is old, and has been badly stored. In most samples of gram, unless
quite new, a small proportion of worm-eaten grains will be found, and this
is not of any consequence; but if there are a large number, there will be
a larger proportion of husk (which has no nourishing properties) than
grain, and a larger quantity will have to be given. When a grain of gram
is crushed between the teeth it should impart the taste of a dry pea in
the mouth