50 



FARxVlERS' REGISTER— HORSE FEEDING, &c. 



a horse^b maintenance has been estimated at al- 

 most every sum, from j£ 15 to £40. In the Lan- 

 cashire Report,* the cost of a team of three, 

 ploughing se\-en statute acres per week tlie year 

 throughout, is thus estimated: — 



£ 



d. 



Oats, six bushels per week for six montlis, 



at 23s. per quarter 

 Three ditto - six ditto 



Hay, six months at £1 Is. per week 

 Grass and green food 15s. per ditto 

 Wear and tare of two ploughs 

 Shoeing, 10s. 6d., and farm expenses os 



each - - - 



In the General Report of Scotland,! the feeding 

 is calculated on some iarms as high as 15 quarters 

 of oats each, with 22 lbs. of hay, oran English acre 

 of clover or tares, and a quarter of an acre of pota- 

 toes, yams, or Swedish turnips while they are on 

 etraAV, and Ihus the expense" of keep — oats being 

 25s. per quarter — is estimated for a pair at — 



£. s. 



Interest oh purchase, decline in value, 

 and insurance from disease 



Food ■ 



Harness, shoeing and farrier 



Mr. Brown, of Markle, makes the charge 

 of a plough-team of a pair, with dri- 

 ver, amount toj - ... 135 1 



Mr. Keer, of Berwick^ - - - 120 



While others reduce the charge of a 



pair and driver more reasonably toU 90 



And others again to|| - - - 80 



Mr. Middle ton, of Middlesex** raises 



it to - - - - - - 157 10 



But these estimates were made at various pe- 

 riods, when great dilference existed in prices; the 

 Middlesex report is rather meant for the road than 

 for common plough-work; and perhaps the present 

 general average of the kingdom, exclusive of the 

 charge for interest, may be ctdculated at about 

 £84. 



Some farm-horses, though workino; at the usual 

 rate of common labor, are said to be supported 

 during the summer on cut grass, almost without 

 corn. 'When no beans are grown, their winter 

 food is oat-straw or hay; but in all other cases, 

 bean-straw alone forms their winter provender, 

 from grass to grass, with a mess every night oi' 

 bean-chaff, potatoes or turnips, and a little small 

 corn, all boiled together and seasoned with salt; and 

 two feeds of oats per day, but only when hard 

 worked.' tt On tins fare they are stated to be 

 kept in excellent condition, and others are said to 

 consume only from 15 to 25 bushels, if good oats 



*Original and Corrected Report, p. 584. 



tVol. iii.p. 194. 



J Sir J. Sinclair, Husbandly of Scotland, p. 125. 



§ Berwickshire Report, p. 406. "[T West Lotlrian, 

 p. 178. II Library of Useful Knowledge, Farmer's Se- 

 ries, No. 18. Dumbartonshire Report, p. 251. ** Mid- 

 dleton's Middlesex, p. 97. 



tfEssay on the Agriculture of the Vale of Fortli, 

 by Mr. Carmichael. — Prize Essays of the Highland 

 Society, 1833, vol. iv. p. 24. 



are given; but as draughts (ligld corn) are cora- 

 moidy used, the (luantity is proportionably in- 

 creased. Now, if the meaning of this be,' that 

 a cail-horse gets no more than that quantity in 

 one year, it must be either made up of other 

 nourishing food, or he must be so badly fed as to 

 be unfit lor work. And, notwithstanding all that 

 has been said of substhutes for grain— although 

 admitting that roots may be economically and 

 even heallhtully substituted — we must beg leave 

 to doubt this possibility when the animal is forced 

 to exert himself to the extent of his power. In 

 proportion to the work which he usually and reg- 

 id;u-ly exerts, he may be in excellent apparent 

 order: but push him; try him wdth a few days' 

 harder than ordinary toil, and you will fuul that it 

 is not an additional quantity of roots, but of sound 

 corn, that he requires to sustain him. The reason 

 is evident: he may fill his stomach with roots, but 

 they will not supply the quality of invigora- 

 ting and nourishing substance which corn supphes 

 in the same locight; aird having filled it, he can do 

 no -more. Therefore, we repeat, that farm^horses 

 moderately worked may do their regular days' 

 labor with perfect satisiaclion to their employer; 

 but compel them to the full extent of their vi^or, 

 and tlrere will be ho advantage found in stinting 

 them. When working cattle, more especially 

 horses, are not judiciously as well as economi- 

 cally fed, they are either suffered to go out of con- 

 dition, or provender is unnecessarily wasted; and 

 thus, in either case, considerable injury- is sustained 

 through their deficiency of strength to perform 

 their proper quantity of labor, or through the un- 

 necessary expense of their keep. 



Some years horses require more corn than in 

 others; sometimes soiling commences sooner than 

 at other seasons; and at others, from the failure 

 of the second crops of m-ass, they are sooner 

 put on hay and corn. The hay, too, has not 

 the same succulence in some years as in others, 

 and consequently will not go so liir; and horses, 

 like other animals, though of the same apparent 

 strength, do not all consume similar quantities of 

 food. 



In treating this subject minutely, it would be 

 necessary to review the various methods of feeding 

 horse-teams, practised by diflerent eminent fann- 

 ers, but, besides that, tlxe enumeralion would be 

 tedious, few men require such assistances to their 

 judgment in forming an opinion of the most eligi- 

 ble rnode, and it may be sufficient for the present 

 purpose to assume that plan which can be most 

 generally adopted, namely — of feeding upon corn 

 and hay, or straw^ during the winter, and soiling 

 in summer; leaving out of the question the sav- 

 ings which may be made by the most economical 

 employment of'" roots. Five horses will also be 

 assumed as composing a team; for, even if plough- 

 ed in pairs, three are sometimes wanted for other 

 work; an odd horse is always useful; and with the 

 aid of tlie farmer's own nag to hook on occasion- 

 ally to a third plough, a couple of hundred acres 

 of medium soil, under a moderate rotation, and 

 with a fiur proportion of meadow, may be very 

 well managed with that number, if there be not 

 much out-cartage; and they may be easily worked 

 by one carter and his mate, \vith a stout lad able 

 to hold and drive, or one of the laborers, when a 

 third plough is required. Supposing, then, the 

 horses to be soiled from old May-day to Michael- 



