The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1878-06-20
FARM, GARDEN AND HOUSEHOLD,
Feeding Horses

H
Owing to the small size of the horses
stomach, this animal should never be
allowed to fast for any long period if it
can possibly be avoided, since experience
teaches that at the end of few hours
his stomach is empty, and the whole
frame becomes exhausted, while the
appetite is frequently so impaired, if he
is kept fasting for long period, that
when food is presented to him it will not
be taken. If horse is required to
travel long distance, and the journey
must be accomplished without stopping
to bait, it exhausts the horse less to
increase the pace up to his best average
gait than to permit slow gait, consum-
ing much longer time in going over
the ground, and on an empty stomach.
In other words, if two horses are
driven fifty or sixty miles, under similar
conditions as to the weight they have to
draw, and the one is taken at the rate of
six miles an hour, which will keep him
fasting from eight to ten hours, while
the other is travelled fast enough to do
it in six or seven hours, the latter will
be less exhausted than the former,
though even in this latter case the
horse would be all the better for feed
in the middle of the journey, the time
devoted to such batting being easily
made up by the increased energy that
would be Supplied by the grain.
The human stomach will bear hunger
far better than that of the horse, and if
the driver feels his appetite pretty keen,
he may rest assured that the animal be-
fore him is still more in want of food.
The poor feeding of horses necessitates
the careful study of the peculiar consti-
tuition of each animal, to ascertain
whether the average quantity and quail
ty of food, which will suit the majority
of horses doing similar work, will be
enough or too much for him. As in the
human subject, no infexible rule can
be followed in all cases. The require
ments of horses vary, not only in con-
stitutional differences, but also in the
work for which they are designed.
Again, some washy animals pass their
food through them so quickly that they
do not absorb from it one-half the nu-
tritive elements contained in it. Such
horses, however, must be fed largely, if
they are kept at work, while those arti-
cles of food must be selected for them
which have tendency rather to confne
the bowels than to relax them. Care and
watchfulness are absolutely necessary in
the economical management of horses,
and to the requirement of such relnun-
erative results as will alone make their
ownership profitable. The shle ewd,
keep owner of horses, who depends
upon his own investigations, soon learns
kIot 1o mil
amount of labor far greater than others,
while thriving under far less quantity
of food; hence he soon determines which
to retain and which to dispose of, leav-
ing to the careless and Indifferent indi-
vidual the ownership and feeding of the
Improbable specimens. - american
CultiUator.
Agricultural Aphorisms.
Plant-food for paying crop must be
already in the superficial soil cultivated,
or else it must be furnished to the soil
directly, or a good crop cannot be har-
vested.
Plant-food deposited deep in the soil
must be brought to the surface, or within
reach of the roots of crops by deep
ploughing, to render it of use to the
farmer.
Plants can only live and thrive on
food containing the elements of which
they are composed, and animals are de-
pendent upon this law of nature. There.
fore, to learn how to feed. plants and
and animals properly, first learn the
elements of which they are composed,
and the relative quantities of each, and
then supply food containing the proper
tion of these elements, whether one or
more kinds of food be required.
Food must be various; for this aim.
Air plants have little or no ash. The
carbon in burning unites with oxygen
and passes into the air as carbonic acid
gas; and the nitrogen in them is vapor-
lied and lost as ammoniacal gas, there
fore large quantity of Spanish moss
ignited, leaves an insignificant quantity
of ash.
The bulk of the forest is carbon, and
absorbed in the form of carbonic acid
gas from the air. The earthly matters
lime, potash, soda, etc., are derived
from the soil through the roots of the
trees.
The essential oils of tea, coffee and of
some other plants and fruits are largely
generated in the processes of drying
cooking or roasting.
Whence come the ethereal and power
full essential oils in the processes of fer
mentation and distillation, if not formed
from surrounding elements! They do
not reside in the natural grains.
Natures chemistry is more subtle, far
reaching and more constant in its opera
tions than our highest education can
bring us to conceive.
All the elements obtained from the
earth by plants must be in the soil at
the time of growth in due and sufficient
proportions.
Lightning-rods are a perfect protec-
tion to buildings when properly con-
structed and carefully erected.
To Make a Wall Pocket.
Gut out from pasteboard two pieces,
one for the back, twelve inches wide
and twenty inches high in the middle,
and sloping in deep curves to the sides,
where it is but thirteen and a half
inches high. The bottom is cut in four
scallops, and an inch and a half above
draw line where the bottom of the
pocket is to come. The pocket is
twelve inches square. Lay these
pieces on some bleached muslin and
mark around them with pencil, but
do not cut away the margin until after
the ornamentation is applied. Arrange
on the front bouquet Of ferns and
surround this with a light wreath, and
place small pretty leaf in each cor
ner. For the back place a tiny bou-
buet in the upper point and leaf in
each of the others. Arrange an initial
OF the smallest ferns found in the center.