In well-managed stables the practice of feeding is regulated by the principles, so far, at least, as they are understood. Nevertheless it may be useful to give a short account of the matters and modes of feeding in reference to different kinds of horses. I shall here state the general mode, so far as I have been able to learn it, and give a few examples.

The Farm-Horse is fed on oats, meal-seeds, corn-dust, barley-dust, beans, barley, hay, roots, straw, and grass. The grain is given raw and boiled, whole, bruised, or ground, and with or without a masticant.* Wheat is seldom used, beans only when the work is very laborious, and bran rarely except to sick horses. The fodder varies with the work and the season. In winter it consists of hay, and the different kinds of straw, including that of beans and peas. The quantity is unlimited, and it is rarely cut into chaff. Rye-grass, clover and tares, are given while they are in season, to the exclusion of other fodder. They are given in the stable or in the field, and some horses are partly soiled and partly pastured. The quantity of grain varies with the work and the size of the horse. From fourteen to sixteen pounds is considered a liberal allowance for a large horse in full work. The night feed is usually boiled so soon as grass fails. The quantity diminishes as the days shorten. In some places the grain is altogether withheld during a part of the winter, fodder being given in the day, and some boiled roots at night.

Some farmers never give more than ten pounds of grain per day. It is not possible to state the proper allowance. In all cases the horse himself soon tells whether he is getting too much or too little. He should be kept rather above than under his work; and even when idle, or nearly so, he should not lose flesh. If he be half-starved in winter, the spring will find him very unfit for the labor which it brings, and it costs more to put flesh on the horse than to keep it on.