This grain, which is the seed of the flax plant, contains 37 per cent. of fat and oil, and consequently is useful for fattening horses that are low in flesh. It improves the state of the coat in a marked manner, and has a soothing effect in diseased conditions of the urinary organs and organs of breathing. A linseed and bran mash is the usual way in which it is given and can be made as follows : - Boil 1 lb. or 1 1/2 lb. of linseed slowly for two or three hours until the grains become soft, allowing only just sufficient water, when the linseed has been cooked, to soak up a couple of pounds of bran, which is then mixed in and the whole covered up in the manner employed for making a bran mash. The thicker the mash, the more inclined will a horse be to eat it.

Instead of giving a linseed and bran mash, it is, as a rule, a better, and certainly an easier, plan to give linseed in the form of linseed meal, 1 lb. of which may be added daily to the other grain. The grinding of the linseed will be facilitated by mixing it, before putting it into the mill, with, say, double the weight of maize. One part of this mixture with one part of bran and four parts of bruised oats, will make an admirable food for horses. We may for a time replace the drinking water by linseed tea, which may be made by boiling 1/2 lb. of linseed in two gallons of water for a couple of hours, and then straining off the fluid and letting it cool. I do not think that linseed oil (say a quarter of a pint) mixed through the daily corn, has as good an effect as the meal.

The outer covering of the grains of linseed contains a large quantity of mucilage (the gum of seeds and roots), which swells up when linseed is boiled in water, and to a much less extent when it is merely soaked in cold water. The mucilage gives the water in which it is present, more or less the character of a solution of gum, and serves to form an emulsion with the oil which is in the seeds.

Indian Linseed sometimes contains a comparatively large proportion of mustard seed, which is small, round, light yellow in colour, and has a characteristically warm taste when chewed. It should be carefully separated from the linseed; because, if consumed by a horse, it may have an irritating effect on his digestive and urinary organs. We may also find hempseed and rape in linseed. The former is an oval and somewhat flattened seed, about half the size of a grain of wheat, and is of a light brown colour. The latter is a dark seed of about the same size and shape as mustard seed. The consumption to a moderate extent of rape and hemp seed causes no ill effect on horses.

From 2 to 4 lb. of linseed cake makes a good addition to the food of young horses, or those which are out of condition.