This root is held in much esteem. There is none better, nor perhaps so good. When first given it is slightly diuretic and laxative. But as the horse becomes accustomed to it, these effects are not produced. Carrots also improve the state of the skin. They form a good substitute for grass, and an excellent alterative for horses out of condition. To sick and idle horses they render grain unnecessary. They are beneficial in all chronic diseases of the organs connected with breathing, and have a marked influence upon chronic cough and broken wind. They are serviceable in diseases of the skin. In combination with oats, they restore a wornout horse much sooner than oats alone.

Carrots are usually given raw. Sometimes they are boiled or steamed, but horses seem to like them better raw. They are washed and sliced. They are often mingled with the grain, but I think they ought to form a separate feed. They diminish the consumption of both hay and grain. Some tell me that six, others that eight pounds of carrots, are equal to four pounds of oats. But the calculation can not be much depended upon, for the horse may eat more or less hay without the difference being observed. According to Curwen, a work-horse getting from eight to twelve pounds of grain, may have four pounds deducted for every live he receives of carrots. For fast-working horses carrots never entirely supersede grain. Mention is made, indeed, of an Essex sportsman who gave his hunters each a bushel of carrots daily with a little hay, but no grain; the horses are said to have followed a pack of harriers twice a week, but the possibility of doing this needs further proof. For slow-working horses, carrots may supply the place of grain quite well, at least for those employed on the farm. Burrows, an English agriculturist, gave his farm-horses each seventy pounds of carrots per day, along with chaff and barndoor refuse, with which the carrots were sliced and mixed.

He gave a little rack-hay at night, but no grain. He fed his horses in this way from the end of October to the beginning of June, giving a little less than seventy pounds in the very shortest days, and a little more in spring. The tops of the carrots have been given to horses, and it is said they were much liked and quite wholesome.