The Sun.
London, England, 1826-12-28 00:00:00

ti►Yely on good barley, mixed with beans, both broken, as a

substitute for oats (that the horses relish this food equally
well as oats; and that, with it, they are equally fit for
work. In regard to expence, barley of good quality, and
cats, are nearly at the same price pre Inmate ; hut barley
has an additiond Weight, by which so much is gained.—
Barley, however, is found to be a heating food,aud requires
to be corrected by a proportion of ruts bags, turnips, or
potatoes in winter; and of grtlfiS in summer, sufficient, in
both cases, to keep the bowels in good order.t
A respectable correspondent near Musselburgh, in Mid
Lothian, has obligingly furnished me with the followirig
particulars. He states, that horses, though they may not
nt first relish barley quite as well as oats, yet in a short
time are reconciled to it: that on slow work, they work
equally well With that food, us when fed on oats : that the
'difference of expense is very considerably in favour of bar-
ley ; that very good barley, weighing about 310 pounds,
can be bought for 26 to 27 shillings per boll ; while good
teed-oats, weighing about 240 pounds, costs about 28 shil-
lings perboU.,--Thus, twenty pounds of barley can be put-
chased for the same sum as fifteen pounds of oats; while
the former contains a much less proportion of husk : that
he almost uniformly feeds his work horses with barley,
except when oats are much lower in price : that at pre-
sent, his horses are fed with two-thirds barley, and one-
third beans, both of them broken in the mill. If not broken,
the barley or big should be boiled, which, on the whole,
he considers to be the better plan, and likely to be the
most convenient for.the farmer : that when barley haste=
heated in the stack, or is musty, from being ill kept in a
' granary, if given to horses in a dry state, it, is very apt to
occasion the water brash, but that if the barley is-boiled,
this pernicious effect is prevented. That bear or big is
equallygood for horses, as barley; and that he lately pur-
chased at Leith upwards of 400 bolls of very good kiln-
dried Orkney big or bear, at 20 shillings per boll, weigh-
ing 248 pounds, while oats of the same weight would have
cost 28 shillings : that many farmers, this season, have
bought barley to feed their horses, instead of outs ;—and
that extending the practice would do much good, as oats
are more likely to rise in price than barley, unless checked

by a leaser demand.
tai a second communication, the came intelligent corre-
spondent states, that if barley or big it sound and Mello
and of itself dry, it doss not require to he kiln-dried: That
if it is kiln-dried, and given to horses in s dry cute, care
Should be taken, not to give them too much at a time,
from the risk of its swelling in the stomach of the -animal:
That he prefers giving the grain in a boiled state, more
particularly when. there, is an opportunity of mixing the
barley with chaff, or - chopped straw, by which it will go
so much farther : That when beans are easily to be had,
he thinks it an advantage to use about out-third of theta
among the barley, and when not boiled, they should Le
both bruised or broken : That be 'has had no experience
in the use of salt ; but he has little doubt that it Would

have the effect of rendering the grain more palatable.
Messrs. John Gray and Sim, corn-merchants in
Aal-
keith, have had, no personal experience in feeding horses
with barley or big, but they purchased about 800 bolls,
(600 Winchester quarters), of barley, which they had sold
to some of the moat respectable and extensive farmers in
their neighbourhood. That so far as their information
reaches, draught, or work-horses, have been advantageously
fed, either in part, or exclusively, with barley or big;. and
that they are found as capable of working on that food, as
on oats. That a relation of theirs keeps six horses, which
are rather aged, yet they, travel, on an average, twenty-
four miles a-day. That since he began to feed them on
boiled barley, mixed up with a few seeds, or corn-dust,
they have become more fleshy, and apparently in better
condition for working than before. That bailey is can-
siderably cheaper at present than oats, barley selling at
255., weighing 296 pounds per boll ; and north country
big being 'purchased at Leith, at 20s. per boll, weighing
252 pounds; whereas good old oats, of about the same
weight, cannot be had under from 28s. to liOs. par boll.
It is the opinion of all these gentlemen, that barley is
equally well calculated for reeding horses in summer as in
winter.

I hope that the information given from such reepactable
quarters, will induce great numbers of farmers to try the
experiment of feeding horses with barley or big, and that
it will likewiie be tried (at least in part), with our cavalry
and artillery horses. The experience of the Duke of Wel-
lington's army in Spain is strongly in favour of the prac-
tice; and were it'only partially adopted, it would havethe
effect of preventing oats from rising to that exorbitant
price, which otherwise they may reitht
I think it proper to add some information which I have
received, respecting the feeding of horses with Pure Or
whins. In various provinces of Spain, and in the south
of France, horses and cattle are regularly fed with them,
during winter, and they make a most excelled food; but
care must be taken to accompany them with other ao ticles.
as straw or hay ; for if supplied in too
great quantities.
being very rich, they are apt to produce disease.
In Spain, furze Was prepared iii the following manner :
The shoots of the preceding summer were cut off, and ga-
thered into a trough, and thin chopped with it light sharp
thet!: hark,;
instrument, till the thorns were completely destroYid.,7—
When used in this country, they are in some eases merely
but in others, minis similar to
those
ed for w i
have been employed to truth

them.
199, (,cargo-street, Edinburgh, Dec. Itltd.
s It fluty be plow here to state, that when horses are fed with
oau, there should be a handful of salt :nixed with than,
which preeenta those complaints to which norm are other
wise liable. It, will be particularly nereisary to attend to this
hint next harvest, when new oats may he so soon retorteo to.
Perhaps boiling the barley may render green food mine-
eftsary.

I We ore told by Marshall, (Rural Economy of Noribik, vol. i.
p. 47), that when barley is cheap, or unsaleable, it is sometime.
given to horses by the Norfolk farmers. In this ease it is ge.
nerally " motred," that ia, Itelvd—afterstwat kept fur a few
days, until it begin to vegetate—nntl, in thia tretie, it is givast
hor►es. It is thought to he less heating ip this state, than who
given to horses in its natural state,