67 



Or, estimating the feed at a lower price, though the before- 

 mentioned were the current prices of the different articles at 

 the time, let us see what might then be the result. 



Hay at |8 per ton, 6 00 



15 bushels of potatoes, at 15 cents per bushel, . 2 25 



4 bushels pease and oats, at 50 cents per bushel, . 2 00 



8 bushels of corn, at 70 cents per bushel, . . 5 60 



$15 85 



$32 45 less $15 85, leaves $16 60 balance in favor of each ox. 



In this estimate, the pasturage of the cattle from the time of 

 purchase until put in the stall, is not included. The interest 

 is not reckoned. The cost of attendance is considered as 

 balanced by the manure. The term of stall-feeding was short ; 

 the markets high. 



At my request, a careful farmer was induced to ascertain the 

 amount of hay consumed ordinarily by a fatting ox. In this 

 case, the hay given to them was first weighed, and then the 

 orts or leavings were carefully weighed and deducted from the 

 amount. 



Five oxen consumed one hundred and fifty lbs. of good hay 

 per day. Two of these oxen had at the same time twenty 

 quarts of provender — half Indian corn and half broom-seed 

 meal ; two of them twenty-four quarts of the same provender 

 per day ; and one of them eight quarts per day. Upon a 

 second experiment with the same cattle, fed with meal as 

 above, the five oxen consumed twenty-five lbs. of hay each 

 per day. 



It is stated in the Complete Grazier, that an unworked ox 

 for several days together consumed thirty-tbree lbs. of hay per 

 day. In the New York Memoirs of Agriculture, it is stated 

 that an ox will eat every twenty-four hours, fourteen lbs. of 

 hay, half a bushel of potatoes, and eight quarts of Indian meal. 

 Of course no rule in this case can be exact ; as animals differ 



