r a small sum.

Bran Mash.

It is a good plan, particularly in warm weather, in any country to give
horses a bran mash once a week, and if one particular evening is fixed
upon, syces get into the habit of giving it regularly without special
orders. I generally used to give a standing order to give it on Saturday
night, for, as a rule, the horses are not required on Sunday. Bran has a
slightly relaxing effect, that in warm climates is particularly
beneficial. Bran mash is made by simply putting the necessary quantity of
bran into a bucket, pouring boiling water gradually on to it, at the same
time stirring it round with a stick until the whole is moist and mixed
together. The bran should only be damped sufficiently to make it stick
together, and should not be sloppy and wet. Some horses at first will not
eat bran, but they can be tempted to by mixing a handful of whatever grain
they have been used to with it.

Oats (_jai_).

Oats are now largely grown over the Punjab, Northern India, and in
Tirhoot, and are sold at nearly the same price as barley. In the seaport
towns Australian oats can usually be obtained; and as good oats are grown
in the colonies as any part of the world. They are more expensive than
the native article, and are generally only used for training race-horses
on. The Indian oat, compared with the English, Australian, or South
African, is a poor article, running very light, with a great amount of
husk; but if properly crushed, and mixed with gram and bran in proportions
of one part of each, they are greatly superior to barley. The oat in India
is a winter crop, and is harvested in the spring. Both colonial and Indian
oats are always white. I have never seen the black or tawny variety which
is so common in Ireland. A demand having arisen for them by Europeans, it
is sometimes possible in Northern India to buy them in the bazaar; but
generally it is necessary to make a special arrangement with the grower,
as natives do not use them as a feeding grain for their own animals. They
grow the crop round the wells, and cut it green in the straw as forage for
the well and plough bullocks in the spring, when they are working hard.
Arrangements can generally be made with the cultivator to purchase so much
from him by weight, thrashed and delivered at your own stable, or else to
purchase so many acres of the standing crop as it is growing; but the
former plan is the most satisfactory, as it is astonishing the h