144 



AN AGRICULTURAL FAGGOT. 



With reference to the calculation of weight from 

 measurement, Stephens, in his " Book of the Farm/' 

 remarks : 



Upon what principle the rules given in books are founded 

 I cannot say, unless on the assumption that the ox is a hollow 

 cylinder ; but when the measurement is correctly taken, and 

 the ox of an ordinary size, the result is pretty accurate. 



The error attendant upon these calculations is, that 

 they form a rigid rule which does not adapt itself to the 

 differences which are found in all animals. The tables 

 upon which reliance was most confidently placed seem 

 often to have been found erroneous, especially when the 

 stock measured were above the average size. In the 

 book on " British Husbandry," published by the Society 

 for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge in 1837, particulars 

 are published of four bullocks which were exhibited at 

 the Highland Society's Agricultural Show of 1834, 

 showing their estimated weights according to several 

 tables, and their actual dead weight. All of these 

 calculations fell far short of the real weight, the highest 

 coming only within 56 J stones, or an average of 14 stones 

 per head too little, and the lowest showing a deficiency of 

 79! stones, or nearly 20 stones per head. Thus, as the 

 author justly remarks, taking the nearest calculation 



