In former times it was customary to feed horses with bread, and the statute book is said to contain several acts of parliament relating to the manner of making it. Ger-vase Markham, a very old author, says, "Horse bread which is made of clean beans, clean peas, or clean fitches, feedeth exceedingly." It is not many years since a bread, composed of wheat, oats, barley, and beans, ground and mixed in varying proportions, was used in the racing-stables. The bread was well baked, and given when sufficiently old to crumble down and mingle with the grain. Eggs and some spices were sometimes introduced in making it. Nothing of the kind, so far as I know, is now used in this country.

In different parts of Europe bread forms the customary food of the horses. A French periodical of 1828 mentions an agriculturist "who fed his horses with a bread composed of thirty bushels of oatmeal, and an equal quantity of rye-flour, to which he added a portion of yeast, and nine bushels of potatoes reduced to a pulp. With this bread he kept seven horses, each having twelve pounds per day in three feeds. It was broken into small pieces, and mixed with a little moistened chaff." He had fed his horses in this way for four years. Previously he had used oats, hay, and straw chaff.

The Magazine of Domestic Economy, February number for 1837, tells us that one ton of oats made into bread yields more nutriment than six tons of the raw article, and that in Sweden this has been proved by experience. It has never been proved in Scotland, and I dare say it never will. It is true, however, that a bread composed of oatmeal and rye, in equal quantities, has long been used for horses in Sweden. It is broken down and mixed with cut straw. It is in common use over different parts of Germany. I can not learn any particulars as to the mode of making nor of the quantity given, nor of the horses' condition. In France, many at tempts have been made to produce a bread that would wholly or partially supersede oats, which seem to be comparatively precious on the continent. Buckwheat, rye, barley, wheat, and potatoes, have been tried in varying proportion, and, according to several accounts, with success. But it does not appear very distinctly why these articles should be converted into bread, which is a costly process, rather than given raw or boiled.

It is indeed alleged that some of the constituent principles are not digestible until they have undergone fermentation; and it may be so, but no proof is shown that I have seen.