eavy crop
that will be produced; and, on the contrary, you will be equally
astonished to find with the other plan how light it is. The negotiations
for the supply of oats should be entered into in good time in the
spring--say about the beginning of March--as it is astonishing how slow
such matters progress in the East, and they had better be left in the
hands of your head syce. No doubt you will be cheated out of a small
amount, but you must make up your mind for this before arriving in the
East; but you will have the satisfaction of knowing that if you tried to
carry on negotiations yourself you would be cheated out of more. I have
tried both plans, and found that the syce could drive a better bargain for
both of us than when I attempted to deal direct with the cultivator.

Maize (_makkai_).

Although grown all over India, maize is not much used for feeding horses;
but in South Africa, where it is known as "mealies," it is the staple food
grain for both man and beast. In India it is said to make horses fat and
soft, but no animal in the world does harder work than a South African
post-cart horse. In all probability the reason they do well on maize is
that in the oat-hay forage they get there is a considerable quantity of
grain; and although I have never seen it used, the experiment of feeding
on oats and maize would be worth while trying in India. In South Africa
maize is usually given whole, but in any of the towns it can be obtained
crushed, and it is better to give it in this state. During the Afghan War
maize was plentiful in some parts of the country, and I gave it to some of
the horses that I had charge of. I had it parched on hot sand, in the same
way as barley (adarwah) is parched, making it into American pop-corn. With
certain somewhat thin and debilitated animals it had a marked effect in
getting flesh on them, and all horses eat it greedily. In India maize is a
summer crop, ripening in the autumn, when the ears or cobs are picked off
the stalks. It is stored in the cob, and the individual grains knocked off
as required by rapping them against a stick; but they must be turned over
in the heap occasionally, as rats and mice are likely to cause damage,
particularly the musk rat, that taints everything it comes into contact
with. Horses have frequently been brought to me, said to be off their
feed, and on inquiry I have found this only to be caused by the grain
being tainted by musk rats, and that when a clean