In Eastern Bengal, Assam, and parts of Burma, the green leaves and young shoots of the bamboo are used for forage. During the Chin-Lushai Expedition in 1889-90, the animals with the force got nothing else for nearly eight months. I had three ponies of my own that were worked moderately hard the whole time, and they remained in good condition. The transport mules, which were worked very hard indeed in a very trying climate, did not fall away nearly as much as I expected. The young shoots and leaves are cut with a sort of a billhook, called a "dah," and care must be taken that only the young green leaves and soft tender shoots are given, the old leaves and the edges of the dry stumps of the bamboo cutting like a razor. I have seen some bad wounds on the lips, tongue, and angles of the mouth from this cause. It is best to make the "syces" and "grass-cutters" pluck the leaves off the branches altogether, and not leave them about the stable, for fear of wounding the horses. This they will readily do, as they use the _débris_ for fuel. I have seen some bad cuts and injuries in both men and animals from the edges of the split bamboo, which are very sharp--so much so that the savage tribes on the eastern frontier use a properly split piece of bamboo for a knife in skinning animals; and the sap of the green bamboo appears to have a peculiarly irritating or poisonous action, a wound caused by it festering and suppurating in both man and beast, whereas one inflicted with a dry bamboo will heal up healthy. Horses require a larger amount of bamboo leaves than grass. If an animal is getting 20 lbs. of green "dhoob" grass daily, he will require 30 lbs. of bamboo leaves to keep him in condition. Although at first horses may refuse them, they take to them kindly after a little while.
In the South African colonies grass hay is almost unknown. The oat is cut when about half ripe, dried, and given in the straw, in which condition it is known as forage, and is excellent feeding. It is usually sold in bundles, wholesale at so much per hundred, and retail at hotels and livery stables at so many bundles for a shilling. Some years ago, when I was travelling in the Dutch part of South Africa, in the more out-of-the-way parts of which there are no hotels, it was the custom to ask the owner of the farmhouse where you arrived permission to "off-saddle" if you were riding, or "out-span" if driving, for the night or a couple of hours, as the case might be. This was a roundabout way of asking if he could put you and your animals up for the night. When leaving in the morning, it would have been a great breach of good manners to ask for your bill, but you inquired what you were indebted to his head-boy for the forage your horses had consumed--a polite way of asking for your account; the number of bundles per shilling varying according to the time you remained, and the accommodation you had received; but, notwithstanding this fiction, I did not, as a rule, find the total any less than in a regular hotel where you get your bill.