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NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



LETTER FROM HON. JOHN W. LINCOLN. 



To the Committee to award the Premiums for experiments 

 in f> eding with cut and uncut hay : 



Gentlemen: — You will doubtless recollect 

 that at the meeting of the Trustees of the Worces- 

 ter Agricultural Society at which it was agreed to 

 offer premiums for the purpose of ascertaining by 

 experiments the advantages or disadvantages of 

 feeding farm stock with cut or uncut hay, I stated 

 that personally I should not be a competitor ; that 

 I had an opinion which I had been unable to find 

 evidence to confirm or disprove, and which I was 

 desirous, as I deemed the subject of much impor- 

 tance to the farmer, to have tested by experiment: 

 that I considered it desirable to excite as much 

 competition for the premiums as was practicable ; 

 that to ensure an additional trial I was disposed 

 to say to Mr. Hawes, who has for about 12 years 

 had the immediate supervision of my farm, that lie 

 might make the experiment with any of my cattle, 

 and should be entitled to the premium, if the com- 

 mittee should think that the result of the experi- 

 ment made by him would justify such an award, 

 provided the board should he of the opinion that 

 there was no impropriety in my so doing : Mr. 

 Ilawes to be considered as standing in the same 

 condition as those competitors who should make 

 the experiment with their own cattle and food. — 

 The Trustees expressed their approbation of this 

 arrangement as being favorable to the Society, 

 thereby increasing the competition. I accordingly 

 made the proposition to Mr. Ilawes, who assented 

 to it with the express understanding that I should 

 have no pecuniary interest in the question of pre- 

 mium, and should have nothing to do with the ex- 

 periment, except to aid in drawing the report from 

 such facts as he should furnish me, if he should 

 desire it. Of my position the board were reminded 

 at their meeting when I was placed on this com- 

 mittee. 



Mr. Ilawes made out a written statement of the 

 weighing of the cattle at the different times, and 

 of the hay, cut and uncut, which they hud eaten 

 during the different periods, addressed to me, sta- 

 ting to me verbally several circumstances which 

 were not embodied in his report ; believing that it 

 was important that all the facts in the case should 

 be made known to the committee, it became ne- 

 cessary that it should be rewritten, which has beer 

 done, and it is now communicated to you. 



As my r mnectioo with Mr. Ilawes, as it has 

 hi en ol many years' continuance, is generally 

 kn \vn t , the public, my position in relation to this 

 ex] iiaient would not he understood, without an 

 explanation which should define my position in re- 

 1 ■ d e t > this business, except to those who, like 

 yourselves, have been acquainted with all the facts 

 in the case, which seemed to render this statement 

 necessary, and it is now submitted to your disposal. 



Respectfully, your most obed't servant, 



John W. Lincoln. 



STATEMENT OF MR. HAWES. 

 Hon. John W. Lincoln: — Sir, — As requested 

 by you, 1 have made a trial of feeding with cut and 

 uncut hay, with your speckled yoke of oxen, in 

 terms of one fortnight each. When one was fed 

 with cut hay, the other had uncut hay, and so 

 changing at the expiration of eacli two weeks, ex- 

 cept at the close when the trial was prolonged. 

 Tl ' trial was commenced on Monday, the 15th 



day of December last, at which time the near ox 

 weighed 1520 lbs., the off ox 1500 lbs., on the hay 

 scales of Henry S. Washburn, Esq., in the Quin- 

 sigamond village. Each ox was fed with the same 

 quantity of hay, of the same quality, 35 lbs. of 

 uncut hay being eaten each day to the 29th De- 

 cember by the near ox, and 35 lbs. of cut hay by 

 the off ox. On the 29th December the cattle were 

 again weighed on the same scales, and the near ox 

 was said to weigh 1504 lbs. and the off ox 1487 

 lbs. ; by this it would appear that the near ox had 

 lost in weight 16 lbs. on uncut hay and the off ox 

 13 lbs. on cut hay. Between the 15th and 29th 

 of December, these cattle were worked 10 days in 

 drawing heavy loads of green oak wood from the 

 farm into the village, some of them exceeding 11 

 ft. in measure, principally to the houses of Hon. 

 L. Lincoln and W. S. Lincoln, Esq., they being 

 one yoke of a team of two pairs of cattle. It 

 should be stated that I then believed that there 

 must have been an error in the last weighing as 

 above stated ; I was of the opinion that the cattle 

 had both gained in weight during the fortnight, 

 instead of having lost any of their flesh ; such 

 was also the opinion of others, who saw them, 

 and that opinion seems to be confirmed by subse- 

 quent results. The weight as given by the hay 

 scales on the 29th December, was for the near ox 

 1504 lbs. for the off ox 1487, they each of them 

 had 38 lbs. of bay per day, the near ox having 

 cut hay, the off ox uncut hay. On the 12th of 

 January last they were weighed on the hay scales 

 of William B. Fox, Esq., the scales of H. S. Wash- 

 burn, Esq., having been rendered useless by an 

 accumulation of ice; the scales of W. B. Fox, 

 Esq., were used during the remainder of the tried. 

 The weight this day, as given by the scales, was 

 for the near ox 1594 lbs., for the off ox 155G lbs. ; 

 each ox during the preceding two weeks bad eaten 

 38 lbs. of hay per day, and if there was no mis- 

 take in the last weighing on Mr. Washburn's 

 scales, the near ox had gained 90 lbs. on cut hay, 

 the off ox 69 lbs. on uncut hay — during this period 

 the oxen bad worked 10 days in drawing logs to 

 mill, and wood into the central village. 



From the 12th to the 26th January, the cattle 

 were fed with 38 lbs. of hay each, except on the 

 16th, 17th and 18th days, on which they eat 40 

 lbs. each ; on those days they performed no labor 

 and were in the barn the greater part of the day. 

 The weight of the near ox was 1616 lbs., of the off 

 ox 1586 lbs., from which it appears that the near 

 ox had gained 22 lbs. on uncut hay, and the oil' ox 

 30 lbs. on cut hay — during this time the cattle 

 worked 10 days in drawing wood to railroad. 



From the 26th of January to February 9, each 

 of the oxen eat 39 lbs. hay per day, and at the 

 last mentioned time the near ox weighed 164Glbs., 

 and the off ox 1604 lbs., from which it appears the 

 near ox gained 30 lbs. on cut hay, and the off ox 

 18 lbs. on uncut hay — during this time the cattle 

 worked 10 days in drawing logs to mill. 



From the 9th to the 16th of February, the cat- 

 tle were worked 6 days in drawing wood and rocks, 

 and each cat 39 lbs. hay per day ; on the last 

 mentioned day the scales gave to each ox the same 

 weight as on the same day a week before, the near 

 ox having uncut hay, the off ox cut hay. 



From February 16th to 23d, one week, the cat- 

 tle each of them eat 39 lbs. hay each day, and 

 were worked 6 days in drawing wood, rocks, &c, 



