ley 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 garden, from where it can be purchased retail. Some native corps,
who remain some time in the one place, also grow it for the benefit of the
regiment, and sometimes it is possible to obtain some from them; but as a
rule they only have enough for their own use. Round the large military
cantonments in some places, the ne