grain parchers in the bazaar; but
sometimes, though rarely, some of the women of the servants' families can
do it. It consists of half filling a wide shallow iron pan with sand, and
placing it over a fire till nearly red hot. A couple of handfuls of the
grain is then thrown into the sand with a peculiar turn of the wrist which
scatters it over the hot surface, about which it is stirred for a few
seconds with an iron spoon or small shovel pierced with holes like a
fish-ladle. The grain is partially baked, swells up and becomes brittle,
the husk cracking, when it is scraped up and lifted out with the ladle,
the sand being riddled through back into the pan. A good parcher will turn
out a "maund" (80 lbs.) in a wonderfully short space of time, the whole
process being gone through with a dexterity only acquired by long
practice. In India barley usually runs very light, there being a great
deal of husk. Boiled barley is a most useful diet for a sick horse. It
requires well boiling for at least half an hour, and the water then
drained off. I have known horses drink this barley-water when they won't
look at anything else.

Bran (_choker_).

In most of the large stations in India there are flour-mills in which
wheat is ground with the latest machinery, and when obtained from them,
bran differs but little from what is seen in England; but in smaller
places wheat is ground by native mills, and then the bran is not so clean.
When native-made bran is run over the hand, it will be seen that there is
a large amount of flour in it, which adheres to the skin like a white
powder, and which makes it much more nourishing than the cleaner prepared
article. The scales also of native-made bran are much more irregular in
size than the European manufactured article. Bran should have a clean,
fresh smell about it, and the newer it is the better; if kept long it is
likely to get mouldy. This is particularly the case during the rainy
season, when the atmosphere being saturated with moisture, a good deal is
absorbed by the bran, and if kept in this state for any time will get
mouldy. On this account, if it is necessary to store bran during the rainy
season, it should be kept in tin boxes. The inside lining of old packing
cases, in which perishable goods are brought out from England, do well for
this purpose, and plenty can be got for a small sum in the bazaar shops;
or, if not, any native tinsmith will make a box out of old kerosine oil
tins fo