eased by steaming or boiling.
They possess, in common with other roots, slight laxative properties.

BEETS.--These are not much used as feed for horses.

CARROTS.--These make a most excellent feed, particularly during
sickness. They improve the appetite and slightly increase the action of
the bowels and kidneys. They possess also certain alterative properties,
making the coat smooth and glossy. Some veterinary writers assert that
chronic cough is cured by giving carrots for some time. The roots may be
considered, then, as an adjunct to the regular regimen, and if fed in
small quantities are highly beneficial.

GRASSES.--Grass is the natural food of horses. It is composed of a great
variety of plants, differing widely as to the amount of nourishment
contained, some being almost entirely without value and only eaten when
nothing else is obtainable, while others are positively injurious, or
even poisonous. None of the grasses are sufficient to keep the horse in
condition for work. Horses thus fed are "soft," sweat easily, purge, and
soon tire on the road or when at hard work. Grass is indispensable to
growing stock, and there is little or no doubt that it acts as an
alterative when given to horses accustomed to grain and hay. It must be
given to such horses in small quantities at first. The stomach and
intestines undergo rest, and recuperate if the horse is turned to grass
for a time each year. It is also certain that during febrile diseases
grass acts almost as a medicine, lessening the fever and favoring
recovery. Wounds heal more rapidly than when the horse is on grain, and
some chronic disorders (chronic cough, for instance) disappear entirely
when at grass. In my experience, grass does more good when the horse
crops it himself. This may be due to the sense of freedom he enjoys at
pasture, to the rest to his feet and limbs, and for many other similar
reasons. When cut for him it should be fed fresh or when but slightly
wilted.

SILAGE.--Regarding silage as a feed for horses, Rommel in Farmers'
Bulletin 578 writes as follows:

Silage has not been generally fed to horses, partly on account
of a certain amount of danger which attends its use for this
purpose, but still more, perhaps, on account of prejudice. In
many cases horses have been killed by eating moldy silage, and
the careless person who fed it at once blamed the silage
itself, rather than his own carelessness and the mold which