-pressed English cake. It is sold by the "seer" (2 lbs. weight), but
in irregular lumps, not moulded into cakes as in Europe. Care must be
taken in buying it, as it is very likely to be musty, and adulterated with
mustard or rape seed. Both these can be easily detected by the taste or
smell, leaving a pungent odour and a sharp burning taste behind. The best
plan is to crush a small quantity of the cake and drop it into some
boiling water, when the sharp smell and taste characteristic of the
mustard and rape oil will be given off. A small quantity of linseed cake
in the food will fatten horses tremendously, but makes them soft in
condition. It is one of the articles used by native dealers to fatten
horses for sale, and at this they are most expert. When crushed it can be
mixed with the food, or boiled to make linseed tea for sick horses; and
for this latter purpose I prefer it to linseed, as there is less oil in
it, the smell of which sometimes nauseates an animal and causes him to
refuse it.

Black Gram (_cooltee_).

In the Madras Presidency and Southern India black gram is used, the Bengal
white gram not being grown there. This has to be boiled before use.
Military horses are fed on it, but it is said that it makes them soft. I
have, however, no personal experience of black gram.

Preparation of Food.

In India it is the custom to damp the food before it is given. It should
not be saturated so as to turn it into a sloppy paste, but just damped
sufficiently to make the particles stick together. Grooms (syces)
generally deal out each feed into a bucket dry from the corn-bin, and then
damp it; but a better plan is to weigh out the whole of the amount
required for all the horses, and put it into a wide-mouthed earthen bowl
called a "naund," that can be purchased for a few pence, or a box, such as
an old wine case, and damp the whole amount together, then portioning it
out for each animal. The reason of this is that, if the grain is damped in
the buckets, they are at once taken away, and, the probabilities are,
never cleaned; but if they have to be brought forward for each feed to be
put into them, and the owner takes the trouble now and again to inspect
them, "syces," who are creatures of habit, get into the way of cleaning
them before they bring them forward. The box, or naund, in which the grain
is damped being stationary, can be looked at any time. It is necessary to
be very careful about this, as the particles o