78 



cutting through the shoulders, in splitting down the chine they 

 turn the edge of the axe outwards, thus leaving a large portion 

 of the neck attached to the head, and lost to the seller. The 

 owner does not see his ox slaughtered or weighed, and depends 

 wholly upon the return given him by the purchaser for its 

 weight. The opportunity for fraud in such case is obviously 

 great ; and much disappointment and complaint, with what 

 justice I shall not say, oftentimes exist among the farmers 

 when they receive the weight of the cattle which they have 

 sent to market. 



A farmer highly experienced in the case says, that the hide 

 of an ox, which in December, for example, if he were killed, 

 would weigh one hundred lbs., if he were kept until June 

 would not weigh more than eighty-five lbs. The loss of hair 

 in such case is something ; and the hide in summer becomes 

 more porous and loses in a measure its consistency. 



9. Pasturage. — With respect to cattle fatted in pasture, it is 

 not easy to come at any exact results, as especially the quality 

 of the pasturage differs so much in difli'erent parts of the county. 

 In the north-east part of the county, for example, which is 

 very hilly and broken land for pasturage, it is valued at seven to 

 fifteen dollars per acre, but the average price may be considered 

 as seven dollars. Four acres are deemed sufficient to fatten a 

 cow ; six acres are allowed to an ox. One farmer, who is re- 

 markable for the number and excellent quality of the cattle 

 which he sends to Brighton in the autumn, kept eighteen oxen 

 the whole season upon one hundred acres of land. Another 

 farmer, upon forty acres, kept ten farrow cows. 



In Conway, the pasturage is excellent. Thirty acres keep 

 six cows and two oxen, or would keep twelve cattle, cows and 

 oxen. 



Oxen from four to six years of age are taken to be pastured, 

 at from fifty to sixty-seven cents per week. Farrow cows at 

 twenty-five cents per week. Steers, at two years old, at sev- 

 enteen cents per week each. Sheep are pastured at three cents 

 each per week, and lambs at one and a half cents. 



