about half ripe, dried, and given in the straw, in which condition it is known as forage, and is excellent feeding. It is usually sold in bundles, wholesale at so much per hundred, and retail at hotels and livery stables at so many bundles for a shilling. Some years ago, when I was travelling in the Dutch part of South Africa, in the more out-of-the-way parts of which there are no hotels, it was the custom to ask the owner of the farmhouse where you arrived permission to “off-saddle” if you were riding, or “out-span” if driving, for the night or a couple of hours, as the case might be. This was a roundabout way of asking if he could put you and your animals up for the night. When leaving in the morning, it would have been a great breach of good manners to ask for your bill, but you inquired what you were indebted to his head-boy for the forage your horses had consumed—a polite way of asking for your account; the number of bundles per shilling varying according to the time you remained, and the accommodation you had received; but, notwithstanding this fiction, I did not, as a rule, find the total any less than in a regular hotel where you get your bill.

Hay.

Hay, as is known in Europe and Australia, is never seen in India. In some parts, what is called hay can be obtained; but, compared to English meadow hay, it is at the best but poor stuff. No doubt hay of a very tolerable quality can be made in India; in fact, I have done so, but usually the grass is cut after the plant has flowered, the seed ripened and shed, when it is what is known as “the sap being down,” and then it is dry and with little nourishment in it. It is generally also allowed to lie out too long after it has been cut in a hot, powerful sun, which utterly bakes it up. The grass should be cut when the seed is green and the sap well up in it, and should not be allowed to remain too long drying. I have generally found that from eight to ten hours of the Indian sun was enough, so that grass cut in the morning should be stacked at night; it will then not be utterly dried up, and in the stack will undergo the process of fermentation that gives the characteristic smell to English hay. There is a certain amount of difficulty in doing this. The grass flowers and seeds at the end of the hot weather, about September, when the monsoon rains are on, and these sometimes last for days together. It is, therefore, sometimes difficult to get a fine day to cut and save the hay in before the seed is shed; and before the dry weather again sets in the sap has gone down, and there is but little nutriment left in the grass. It is not a bad plan to sprinkle some salt over each layer of hay as the stack is made up; horses eat this cured hay with great relish. In making up the stack, a bundle or two of straw, put on end from the bottom upwards, should be built into the centre of it as it is being raised up, to act as a chimney or ventilator to carry off the heat while the stack is fermenting. If this is not done, there is danger of its catching fire; and even if it should not heat to such a degree, part is likely to get discoloured—what is termed “mow-burned.” This chimney can be made with bundles of sticks, boards, or even stones; but sick horses will often eat the straw from the centre of a haystack when they won’t look at anything else, and it sometimes comes in useful, and in any event, is not wasted. The stack should be built on a foundation of brambles, stones, or a mud platform—the latter being the best—to raise it and protect it from damage by the rains, which at times come in a regular flood, and also to keep out rats, mice, and other vermin. When the stack gets down to the bottom, care should be exercised in handling it, as it is a great refuge for snakes, and I have seen one fatal accident from snake bite from this cause. It, then, is a good plan to make the men remove the hay in small quantities at a time with a hay-fork, which is easily made by fastening a couple of short sticks converging from each other on to a long bamboo; but natives are such fatalists that, no matter how much warned of the danger they are incurring, they will not take the commonest precautions as to their safety if it gives them a little extra trouble. A somewhat larger quantity of dry grass is required than green “dhoob” by weight, the proportion being about 15 to 20 lbs. respectively.

Green Food (khawid, or khasil).

In the spring of the year in India it is common to give horses green wheat, oats, or barley. This is cut in the straw from the time it is about a foot high until the grain begins to ripen, a period that lasts about a month or six weeks in the Punjab—from the middle of February till the end of March. This green food is called by the natives “khawid,” or “khasil.” It has an excellent effect on the system, and is what is used by the native dealers to get their horses into condition for sale. Too large a quantity should not be given at first, as it is likely to cause diarrhœa; about 4 lbs. daily being sufficient at first, but it may be increased up to double this amount if it agrees with the animal. Care should be taken that the green food is only given when young and the straw tender, for when it gets ripe, and the straw woody and hard, it is very indigestible, and a common cause of intestinal obstruction and colic. In some parts green barley is given in the same manner, and when it is young it is as good as wheat or oats; but when it begins to ripen it should be stopped, as the awns or beards begin to get hard, and not only are they likely to choke the horse, but to cause dangerous intestinal obstruction. Oats can be given much longer than barley or wheat; in fact, as I have said, ripe oats are cut in the straw, and used as hay in many parts of the world. The green crop must be purchased standing from a cultivator, and this is best arranged through your head “syce.” It is sold by measurement, a patch in the field being marked out; or else the grass-cutters go and cut as much as is required daily, the whole amount used being afterwards measured up and paid for at the fixed bazaar rate, or, as it is termed, the “nirrick.”

Green Gram.

Natives are very fond of giving horses green gram, but it is a most dangerous custom. It is most indigestible, the stalk when green being full of a strong tough fibre. The sap and leaves have a peculiar irritating or almost corrosive property, and in the spring of the year many fatal cases of intestinal disease are caused by it.

Carrots (gajar).

Carrots are plentiful all over Northern India. They come on in the spring, and are an excellent green food. They can be bought very cheaply, and if kept in a cool, dry place, can be stored for a considerable time; but they require to be turned almost daily, or they will get rotten. When used they should either be washed to remove the earth, or, as in the East this is quite dry, knocked with a stick to remove it. They should be given whole, or else cut into long slices, not across into lumps. This latter practice is dangerous, as horses are thus inclined to bolt them whole, and the short round lump is likely to stick in the throat and cause choking.

Lucerne.

Lucerne grows well all over Northern India, and although not cultivated by the natives for their own use, they know perfectly well what it is, and call it by the English name. In most of the towns where there are any Europeans collected together, it is usual to grow it in the Government or station