Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1880-04-28
Horse Feeding BIZ Wholesale.

A representative of the Tribune recently
had a conversation with Mr.. X. III. Lead
better, Superintendent OF the Broadway
and Seventh avenue railroad company
which has under its care perhaps the
largest number of horses in any one es-
Establishment in New York. In the first
place, me said''any one will readily under
stand that there is great difference be-
tween the work our horses do and that
performed BY horse that is kept for pri-
vate use and driven only by its owner or
by n paid servant who devotes his whole
time to its care. In the latter case the
horse usually does little more than could
be considered exercise necessary to health !:
but our horses have to do real honest work
every day at regular hour. Then,again,
there is great difference in our drivers.
We cannot tell how they treat their horses
when they are out of our sight. Some
drivers will stop the Car with jerk every
time, and this strains the nerves Of the
horses. Others are very careful of their
animals, but there is no doubt that car
horses are often ill-treated and overworked
while on the road. Like all the other car
companies in the city we use cut feed
altogether, and mix the different kinds
Let us take stroll through the granaries
and | will show you how we prepare it."
In each subdivision of the immense
stables, where over eleven hundred horses
we're kept, was seen large waterlight
bin. about ten feet square, where man
employed for the purpose was busy mixing
the feed In corner of the bin the MA
terial was piled up. and II straight cut with
knife revealed the structure of the mass,
from the roof to the floor. 1t was COM
posed of alternate layers, about six inches
thick. of coarse meal and CHOPPED hay; the
meal of corn and oats mixed before grind
ing, and the hay cut to length of about
two inches. The whole was packed dry,
but as the man sliced it down and stirred
the parts together fine spray of water
was thrown over it from a movable rub
Der pipe, while corps Of grooms stood
ready to convey it to the stalls as soon as
it is prepared. Proceeding through the
almost interminable labyrinlhs of the sta
bles to the granares, The superintendent
showed immense heaps of corn and oats
waiting to be mixed for grinding, and
great stacks of cut and uncut hay. The
roar of the mills and cutters on the floor
above was heard, and from great shoots
came pouring down the mixture, to be
carted away to the bins in wheelbarrows
'In what proportion do you mix the
feedP" was asked. "In summer we
make the meal half corn and half oats, by
measurement, not by weight. The meal
thus prepared will average in weight
thirteen pounds day for each horse, and
with it is mixed seven or eight pounds of
cut hay. In winter, however, we put in
more corn and less oats, as corn is more
heating in cold weather. We buy all our
fodder whole in large quantities,as we use
fully twenty-five thousand pounds day."
You believe, then, that there is economy
in using cut feed?" "Yes, economy in
three ways-economy of feed, time and
health There is absolutely no waste in
our method. None of the feed is stand
as the animals get the full benefit of all
they swallow they do not eat as much as
if they swallowed some of it whole. Econ
omy of time, too, is an important matter
with us. Each of our eleven hundred
horses makes two trips a day, and not a
moment must be put to unnecessary delay.
The horses get used to being allowed just
so many minutes to eat, and rs a result
they form habit of eating fast. SO if
whole feed is given them they are apt to
swallow it without chewing and derive
little benefit from it. Cut feed requires
less chewing, and thus valuable time is
saved-an important matter with US.
Again. we claim that ground fodder is
more healthy. If corn, for instance, is fed
whole the animals are apt TO swallow it
whole, and the moisture in the stomach
causes it to ferment and produce sickness.
1t is just as if you put corn to soak in "a
tub of water. Even if it did not ferment
no nourishment would be derived from it,
for it would pass through the animal en-
tire. For these three reasons-economy
of feed, time and health-we, like all the
other companies in the city, use only cut
and ground feed. "-1ribune.