Farm and Garden.

King Country Chronicle, Volume II, Issue 88, 26 June 1908, Page 4

Farm and Garden.

Molasses for Horses. Molasses, observes a writer in the " Rural New Yorker," may be fed with advantage, not only to thin horses, but to horses in good condition. It will not cause colic or other forms of indigestion, is readily assimilated, and helps to maintain condition in hard-worked horses having little time in which properly to masticate whole grain and hay. It is advised to first mix a quart of molasses with two or three quarts of warm water, then mix this thoroughly with five pounds of cut hay, four quarts of cornmeal, and |t\vo quarts of coarse bran. Feed this molasses food night and morning, whole oats at noon, and long hay at night. This is for a hard-working horse of draught type, such as is used in the heavy waggons of the large cities. More molasses may, however, be fed with good results, for a bulletin of the Department of Agriculture says that as much as five quarts of molasses may be given daily to a 12/Olb horse, with advantage to its health and the efficiency of its work. What has been said refers to cane sugar molasses. That from sugar beets has not, so far, been found quite suitable as food for horses. As feed is so high at present farmers would do well to buy molasses at the price quoted, and give it as a part ration to their horses, and especially to those needing plumping up. as it works wonders in that way. Army horses that had to be retired from service were, by heavy feeding on molasses and cut hay and grass, made plump, pretty, polished and lit within a very few weeks, so that their previous riders or drivers failed to recognise them. At first it may be necessary to starve a horse to take the molasses food, but soon it is taken with relish, and proves helpful and sustaining.