difficult of digestion that it soon deranges the
digestive organs. The horse should have all the hay he wishes to eat, at
all seasons of the year. This brings me to another error in his
treatment.

When at work the horse should have at least ninety minutes for each
meal. My observation convinces me that a large number of farmers do not
give him this much time. Their reason for neglecting to do so is, that
it would be a loss of time. But the very opposite of this is the case.
Time is gained. The horse has opportunity to eat slowly, which is
essential to complete digestion; can eat all he wishes; and has time to
rest after eating, giving the organs of digestion a chance to work. Give
your horse an hour and a half to eat his noon-day meal, at least, and at
the end of the season you will find that by so doing you have gained
time. He may not have walked before the plow and harrow so many hours,
but he has stepped faster and pulled more energetically.

Another error is the feeding of too much grain. Some farmers have grain
in the feeding troughs all the time during the spring and summer. The
horse is sated. This manner may do for a hog, whose only business is to
lie around, grunt, and put on fat; but for a horse it will not do. A
horse should never be given all the grain he will eat. At every meal he
should clean out his box, and then be ready to eat hay for at least
fifteen minutes.

Another error is in confining the grain feed almost altogether to corn.
Corn is a heavy, gross diet. It contains a large proportion of oil, and
tends to produce lymph and fat, which are inimical to health, and
destructive of vigor and endurance. Oats is a much better food; yet it
is very rarely fed in the South, and not half of the farmers of the
North feed it. Corn heats the blood, and on this account should not be
fed in hot weather. Oats is a lighter, easier diet, does not heat the
blood, and makes muscle, rather than fat. All in all, oats is the most
economical food, at least for horses at work in hot weather.

One more error which I shall notice in feeding is the giving of too much
dry food. The horse does best upon moist food, or that which has a large
percentage of water in its composition. Carrots, turnips, beets,
pumpkins, etc., may be given in small quantities with decided advantage,
especially in the winter. In summer the hay should be sprinkled with
water, and the oats soaked. This will not only make the food more
palatable and