130 



THE FARMERS CABINET. 



VOL. I. 



for the utility of ciiaffing, by its exposing 

 more points for the extraction of nutriment 

 to the maceration of the liquids in, and the 

 action of the stomach, or stomachs, of, ani- 

 mals. And no provender is wasted, as it is 

 by feeding it entire, either by negligence in 

 servants, or uselessly passing through the 

 viscera. I have strong hopes that the prac- 

 tice of chaffing will be a great relief in this 

 season of comparative scarcity. We are so 

 much accustomed to abundance, that we have 

 never studied or practised theeconomy which 

 necessity enforces. Three bushels of my 

 chaffed hay weigh a stone, (fourteen pounds,) 

 and this is enough for a horse, with a com- 

 mon allowance of oats or chopped grain, for 

 twenty-four hours. Very little more will be 

 sufficient for a horse standing idle, without 

 other food. Mr. Jones saves more than the 

 wages of a man in a year, viz. more than 

 seven tons of hay in the keeping of his four 

 horses; for I allow five hundred pounds of 

 hay, including waste, to keep a horse for a 

 month. In the common and careless manner 

 of feeding, this quantity will not do it." 



I subjoin to these an extract of a letter 

 from Mr. Jones, the gentleman above referred 

 to, addressed to Judge Peters, about the 

 same time. " My attention to feeding my 

 horses, four in number, with cut hay, by 

 measure, commenced in the fall of last year, 

 in consequence of a publication I saw in one 

 of our city newspapers, in which were de- 

 tailed great advantages that had been derived 

 from adopting that practice. Experimenting 

 on that mode of distributing hay to the num- 

 ber of horses above mentioned, I found, as 

 nearly as I could calculate, a saving of thir- 

 teen hundred pounds per month. 



" 1 have since extended the practice to the 

 whole of my farm stock of cattle, and believe 

 the saving to be in the same ratio, as stated 

 relative to the horses. In addition to this 

 saving may be added the advantage of an in- 

 termixture of cut corn stalks and other de- 

 scriptions of food that would not be eaten 

 separately, and without being chaffed. My 

 horses and cattle are all healthy, and look 

 well." 



"The statement which I shall next quote, is 

 that of Amos Sheldon, Esq., Beverly, Mass., 

 a gentleman with whose character as an intel- 

 ligent, excellent, and successful farmer, I 

 have the pleasure to be well acquainted. 



Beverly, Jan. 25, 1834. 

 Mr. J. R. Newell, 



"Dear Sir : It is with pleasure that I com- 

 ply with your request, asking the result of 

 my experience on the subject of feeding 

 stock. My stock consists of fifty-one head, 

 namely : 8 horses, 4 oxen, 35 cows and 

 two yearlings. The stock was fed in the 



usual way, with English salt and fresh mea- 

 dow hay, with meal and potatoes as their 

 case required, until the 1st of Decemberlast, 

 at which time I commenced chopping ray 

 hay. In giving my experience, I must in 

 some measure, ask the privilege of a Yan- 

 kee, viz. that of guessing, but in this case 

 1 think I can guess pretty correctly, as much 

 of the hay has been loaded in consequence 

 of having to remove it from one barn to ano- 

 ther, and calculating the number of days a 

 load would last, the result is bs follows: 

 700 lbs. of English hay, at $16 per ton $5 60 

 200 " fresh, do. " 4 do. 40 



100 " salt do. " 8 do. 40 



3 bushels corn meal, 2 25 



8 bushels long red potatoes, 1 60 



1 man and board. 4b 



Per day, $10 73 



400 lbs. English hay, chopped, at 



$16 per ton, $3 20 



100 lbs. fresh hay, chopped, at $4 



per ton, 20 



100 lbs. salt hay, chopped, at $8 per 



ton, 40 



3 bushels of corn meal, 2 25 



4 " long red potatoes, chopped, 80 

 140 gallons pure water, 00 

 1 man at 8 dollars per month, 26 

 Board of a man at $1 50 per week, 22 



Per day, $7 33 

 Balance in favor of straw cutter, $3 40 



cts. per day. 



In addition to the above balance may be 



added an increase of six gallons of milk, and 



likewise something for the improvement ol 



the condition of my whole stock." 



Mr. Hale is proprietor of a line of stages 



running between JVewburyport and Boston. 

 The whole amount of hay purchased from 



April 1, to Oct. 1, 1816, (six months,) and 



used at the stage stable, was, 



tons. cwt. qrs. lbs. 

 32 4 10 



At 25 dollars per ton, (the lowest 

 price at which hay was purchased 

 in 1S16,) amounted to $800 0( 



From October 1st, 1816, to April 1st, 

 1817, whole amount of hay and 

 straw purchased for and consumed i 



by the same number of horses, viz. \ 



tons. cwt. qrs. lbs. 



1 



510 ii 



Straw, 16 13 3 10 162,23 

 Hay, 13 14 1 00 350,00 

 Deduct on hand, April 1st, 1817, by 

 estimation, four tons more than 

 there was Oct. 1st, 1816, at $25 

 per ton, 100 0( 



Saving by the use of straw cutter, 4 

 months of the last 6 months, or 



