By mixing chaff with the oats and beans, these articles must be broken down before they can be swallowed. They can not be entirely separated from the chaff; and the chaff is too sharp to be swallowed without a good deal of mastication. In grinding the chaff, the horse must grind the grain. This is the most important use of chaff. Many horses swallow both oats and beans without chewing them. That which is unbroken passes through the body entire, and, affording no nutriment, is lost. Chaff prevents this. Still, when the grain is bruised before it is given, chaff may be dispensed with. The horse might swallow much of it as he received it, yet it would be digested; we rarely, almost never, see broken beans or broken oats among the evacuations. Once broken, they must be dissolved before they escape. Nevertheless, if mastication and digestion of the grain are to be promoted, it is- a better practice to mingle chaff with it than to bruise it.