As far as their respective feeding values are concerned, hay may be regarded as grass which has been deprived of a portion of its water and of a varying percentage of nutritive matter, lost during harvesting and storing. Each variety of grass thrives best on a certain kind of soil; hence we find that what is excellent grass on one sort of land is of inferior nutritive worth when grown on another. Also, the nature of the manure greatly influences that of the herbage. It is therefore useless to lay down hard and fast rules as to what are the most suitable grasses under all circumstances for pasture or hay. Figs. 6 to 12 show specimens of some of the best grasses and clovers. The presence of Yorkshire fog, twitch, thistles, docks, sorrel, coltsfoot, sedges, rushes, tussock grass, ragwort, and other useless and injurious grasses and weeds is always undesirable.

Hay is obtained either from permanent (natural) or temporary (artificial) pasture. The cultivation of meadow (permanent pasture) hay is so much neglected, as a rule, that it is generally inferior to temporary pasture hay, for the production of which the experienced seedsman will furnish "prescriptions" that will give crops respectively for from one to eight years (see Sutton's Permanent and Temporary Pastures). Besides, the grasses of permanent pasture usually consist of varieties which do not all flower about the same time, and consequently such pasture would, as a rule, be better suited for grazing than for mowing. Horses which are fed on a large quantity of corn, usually prefer the hard hay made from the first and second cuttings to those of subsequent ones, which become successively softer in structure. I have nothing to add to the remarks already made on pp. 98 and 108 to 112 with respect to the quality of hay, except to repeat that it should be dry, fairly green in colour, fragrant in smell, and that the seeds of the contained grasses should not be so ripe as to readily fall out of their ears. As a rule, clover hay becomes more or less brown.

As explained on pp. 97 and 98, hay made from mature grass is more suitable to horses which are fed on a large quantity of corn than hay made from younger and more nutritious grass. Animals which have to depend for their sustenance mainly on hay will naturally do best when that article of fodder has a high nutritive value.

Hay tea, which may be prepared by steeping hay in boiling water and then allowing the infusion to cool, contains valuable nutritive material in the form of mineral salts and other soluble substances.

Although, as we have seen, straw has very little nutritive value, it is rich in woody fibre, the presence of a certain proportion of which is a necessary constituent of the food of horses. Hence the larger the ration of corn, the more appropriate will be an addition of straw. Therefore, if a horse has a large daily allowance of corn (say, 18 lb. or more), straw, in the form of chop, will probably suit his digestive organs better than the most nutritious hay. Here we have a point of stable economy which should not be neglected by an intelligent horse-owner. It is an instructive fact that, as a rule, the more corn a horse gets, the more inclined will he be to prefer straw to hay. Hence the so-called vice of eating straw bedding, is often an act of obedience to the stimulus of a healthy appetite. We may here remember, as I have already pointed out, that horses in many Eastern countries are fed only on grain and straw for the greater part of the year, and keep in excellent condition during that time. If a horse be stinted in corn, it would of course be much better to add nutritious hay to his ration than innutritious straw. I have known dangerous attacks of constipation to be caused by giving horses too much straw to eat, and at the same time depriving them of a sufficiency of corn, hay, and other nourishing food. Oat straw is more nutritious than any other kind of straw, especially when it is young.

Chop or chaff is the usual term applied to chopped hay or chopped straw which is added to the corn given to horses.

Fig. 6. - a, Wood Meadow Grass ( Poa nemoralis); b, Italian Rye Grass (Lolium Italicum); c, Perennial Rye Grass (Lolium Perenne); d, Yellow Trefoil (Medicago lupulina).

An economical and common mixture of chop consists of two parts of hay to one of straw. See Mr. Shaw's remarks on chop, page 181.