A long experience of feeding horses on barley in India leads me to conclude, that when properly employed, it answers its purpose fairly well, and that it is not much inferior to maize as a food; provided that it is used only in comparatively small quantities. Being poor in woody fibre and hard, it should, before being given to horses, be broken and mixed with a material which is rich in woody fibre, such as chopped hay or chopped straw. It is the only grain that is generally used for horses in Syria, Egypt, Arabia, Persia, Algeria, and other Eastern countries, where 10 lb. is regarded as an ample daily ration. In these places, it is usually mixed with barley straw or wheaten straw which has been broken into small pieces and thoroughly bruised by the native threshing machine (Arabic, Noraj). This form of chaff or chop is called tibben in Arabic. The softness of tibben and of the chaff employed in South Africa with maize, is undoubtedly the chief cause of the good results obtained with barley and maize in these respective countries. It is instructive to know that a mixture of barley and tibben keeps Eastern horses in excellent condition without any other kind of forage. Chopped hay or chopped straw, owing to its greater hardness, is by no means such a good vehicle for barley as tibben. The only valid objection which can be advanced against the use of barley, and which can be more or less obviated by mixing it with bran or suitable chaff, is that it is liable to cause the horse's dung to become loose and to acquire a bad smell. Owing to this effect, which increases in proportion to the amount of barley consumed, 10 lb. may be taken as a healthy maximum daily allowance of this grain. Parching appears to increase the digestibility of barley, but I am unable to explain its action in this respect.

Steamed or boiled barley, when given to a moderate extent, is an excellent adjunct to the food of some delicate horses, even when they are put to hard work. It also forms a useful change for animals that are out of condition.

"Barley often commands a low price because the grains have been tarnished during harvest by rainfall or foggy weather. Such grain has lost little or none of its nutrients, though for the brewer its value may have been much diminished. The wise stockman will use such barley for food rather than force it on the market at the low price which it commands. Light-coloured, bright barley makes beer of better colour than dark, weather-stained grains" (Henry).

Although barley, owing to its laxative effect when given in large quantities, is by itself unsuitable to horses doing hard work; it can often be economically used with other food for these animals. Mr. John Malcolm, F.R.C.V.S. (Journal of Comparative Pathology and Therapeutics), gives the following very interesting account of an exhaustive and valuable experiment on the feeding value of barley for cart horses. His conclusions are indisputable.

"A section of the Birmingham Corporation stud, consisting of 120 cart horses, was selected for the experiment. These horses were all of the same class and all doing the same kind of work, and as nearly as possible the same amount of work. They were divided into two lots of sixty each, and all were weighed. One lot was fed on oats, maize, beans, and hay, and the other lot on barley, maize, beans, and hay, the daily allowance for each horse being as follows : -

"This experiment was commenced on 1st October. In a report on the subject dated 21st November, it is recorded that, although still too soon to report with any authority on the point, yet so far as could then be seen, the horses on barley were doing quite as well as those on oats. The daily allowance was continued to each lot without change till 31st January, 1895, when all the horses were re-weighed. The result of the weighing showed that the barley-fed horses had decreased in weight an average of 28 lbs. each, whereas the oat-fed horses had only decreased 18 lbs. each. It will be remembered that the winter 1894-1895 was severe, and I may state that the general reduction in weight was attributed to the severe character of the weather and the consequent heavy work of the horses. It was decided to continue the experiment until 31st March, but owing to the general loss of weight it was resolved to increase the daily rations in each case by the addition of 1 lb. beans and 1 lb. hay. This was done, and the horses continued to receive this increased allowance till 30th March, 1895, when they were again re-weighed. The result was somewhat curious, and not in accordance with the previous weighing. The oat-fed horses had only recovered 3 lbs. of the previous loss, whereas the barley-fed horses had recovered 14 lbs. of the previous loss. Thus, the nett result was that on 30th March, 1895, the 60 barley-fed horses were on an average 14 lbs. lighter than on 1st October, 1894, while the oat-fed horses were 15 lbs. lighter. It will therefore be seen that in a stud of 120 horses, all of the same class and doing the same kind of work, 60 of which received 8 lbs. barley daily, and 60 8 lbs. oats, but whose food was otherwise precisely the same, no appreciable difference, so far as weight was concerned, could be detected between the lots after an experiment extending over six months and including severe winter weather. As with the weight, so with the general condition and staying powers of the horses, no recognisable difference could be discovered between the lots. The health likewise of the one lot was equal to that of the other, nor could we perceive any difference in their skins or coats. The sole perceptible difference between the two lots was in the character of the faeces. The faecal pellets from the barley-fed horses were not so uniform in shape nor so firm in consistence as from the oat-fed horses, but no real detriment of any kind could be recognised in connection with this, and it was particularly observed that the horses on barley were as free from colic as those on oats.

"The general conclusion arrived at was that so long as good sound corn is given it is immaterial in feeding cart horses whether barley or oats are the grain used, the chief point being their relative market values. As a result of this conclusion, and owing to the cheaper relative value of barley, the whole stud of 400 horses were put on barley in place of oats on 1st April, 1895, and continued to be fed in this way until 1st April, 1896, and the general results were never more satisfactory than during that time.

"In feeding my own horse I candidly confess I prefer oats to any other grain, partly because the faeces are less offensive than with any other corn, but while this point may counterbalance the economic one in horses kept for pleasure or personal use, it is not generally allowed, and it should not be allowed, to influence the procedure in connection with a working stud of cart horses, where the preponderating condition is efficiency with economy.

"Whenever economy makes it expedient to use barley in place of oats, care should be taken to supply clean barley.

Much of the barley imported contains a large percentage of dirt, and it is manifestly absurd to expect the same result from feeding with an equal weight of barley mixed with dirt as with clean oats. In one marked case in connection with a large stud in which barley has recently been condemned as horse food, the real mistake, I believe, was in giving dirty barley, and the condemnation should have been confined to the dirt, and not extended to the barley."

My readers will consult with advantage Mr. Shaw's remarks on barley, page 180.