REPORT OP TEE AGRICULTURIST 49 



SESSIONAL PAPER No. 16 



HORSE LABOUR. 



During the year from April 1, 1906, to March 31, 190Y, the work done by the 19 

 horses kept in the stables here was equivalent to 5901-7 days work, distributed as 

 follows:— Live Stock, hauling fe^d, marketing stock, &c., 104 days; farm work 

 (200 acre farm), 813-4 days; draining and care of roads in winter, 54-2 days; manure 

 on 200-acre farm, 356-8 days; cleaning land, gathering stones, &c., 10 days; arbo- 

 retum, 145 8 days; lawns, &c., 190-2 days; cereal division, 481-1 days; bulletins 

 and reports to and from farm ojffice, 78-9 days; poultry, 29-2 days; mail, including 

 milk delivery, 174 days; omnibus service, including 3 horses for omnibus, 2 horses 

 for general driving and 1 horse for supervision of work, 2,314 days; work about green- 

 house, outbuildings, sidewalks, exhibitions, <&c., 461-5 days. 



In estimating the cost of farming operations further on in this report, $3 per day 

 is charged for team and driver. To feed and care for the horses cost 32i cents per 

 horse per working day^ and the driver receives $1.72i per 10-hour day. It is evident 

 therefore that the team and driver cost $2.37j ^r day, leaving a margin of 62J cents, 

 or 31^ cents, nearly, per horse per day for wear and tear. 



EXPERIMENTS WITH HORSES. 



On January 22, 1907, an experiment to gain some information as to the value 

 of International Stock Food for draught horses was incepted. This was done at the 

 request of a representative of the International Stock Food Co. 



The experiment was carried on with five teams of heavy horses. One horse in 

 each team received regularly the amount of Stock Food indicated in directions 

 accompanying the barrel of Stock Food shipped us by the manufacturers. One horse 

 received none of this stock food nor any condimental food of any description what- 

 ever. Each horse whether receiving stock food or not received 14 pounds per day 

 of a mixture of 250 poujids of oats and 100 pounds of bran, our standard mixture for 

 heavy horses. First there was some little difficulty in getting the horses to eat up 

 clean the mixture of oats, bran and Stock Food, but they soon learned to take it 

 without difficulty. The experiment might be briefly summarized as fellows: — 



NTimber of horses getting International stock food — 5. 



Average weight, January 22, 1907 1.569 lbs. 



Average weight, March 6, 1907 1,581 " 



Average gain in 42 days 12 " 



Number of horses not getting International stock food — 5. 



Average weight, January 22, 1907 1,560 lbs. 



Average weight, March 5, 1907 1,611 " 



Average gain in 42 days K " 



It would appear therefore that so far as gains in weight are concerned that the 

 stock food was of no value whatever. So far as one could judge of condition of the 

 hoi-ses by their appearance and by their spirit when working those not getting stock 

 food were in no way behind their mates which were receiving stock food. 



DAIEY CATTLE. 



The herd of dairy cattle during the year 1906-7 consisted of 50 females all told. 

 They were: — 



Ayrshires 12 



Guernseys . i q 



Canadians 9 



Shorthorns 8 



16—4 



