FOOD CONSUMED BY AN ELEPHANT. 



247, 



FOOD CONSUMTD BY AN ELEPHANT. 



Some time since we copied a short notice that was 

 goiiii; tlie rounds" in reference to P. T. Banmm's 

 arm-eleiihant, rerinesting Mr. B. to give us the par- 

 icuhirs in regard to his weight, consumption of Cood, 

 fee. Our excellent contemporary, the A'eiv England 

 Farmer, copied the article, in whicli paper it met the 

 ye of Mr. Barnum, who iiniuediately replied as fol- 

 ows: 



Bridqeport, Ct., July 7, 1855. 



Editor of JVew England Fanner: — Sir, — In nn" 

 rwer to your inquiry in regard to the diet and weight 

 )f my working elephant, I would state that he eats 

 )n nn average one bushel of oats and one hundred 

 lounds of hay per day, Sundays and all ! His weight 



47(10 pounds. He will accompHsh any kind of 

 vork set before him, and uses ten times better judg- 

 nent than three-fourths of the "help" which I am 

 bliged to employ on my farm. Above all things he 

 3 not an ryf-servant. Once set him at work piling 

 vood, picking up stones, or any thing else, and you 

 an leave him without fear of his playing "old soldier" 

 n your absence. Another capital negative quahty is, 

 hat he don't pick up his duds and start for home e.x- 

 «tly at six o'clock in the afternoon, as many other 

 armers' "assistants" do. He is willing to labor till 

 undown, and even later, if work is pressing. On the 

 hole, he is a very honorable, industrious, intelligent, 

 nd well-behaved farmer; nevertheless, I cannot con- 

 cientiously recommend elephants as the cheapest 

 rorkers on a farm. I'hey cannot work in cold weath- 

 r, and of course would eat themselves up, trunk and 

 II, iu a single winter. 



Truly yours, P. T. Barnum. 



P. S. — Do let me improve this opportunity to cau- 

 ion my brother farmers against " believing all they 

 sad in the papers." About planting time I read in 



rewspaper that a sure preventive of the potato rot 

 ras to soak the seed potatoes in water with an ounce 

 f sulphate of copper to the gallon. I tried it, and 

 ; did prevent mine from rotting and from chitting! 

 Lfter they had been two weeks in the ground my min 

 ug them up, and found them sound inside, but as dry 

 nd hard as a bone on the outside, with not the 

 lightest prospect of their ever exhibiting any natu- 

 aJ signs of life. They were perfectly " copper-fast- 

 ned!" Luckily I only experimented on a small por- 

 ion of my potatoes, and discovered the joke in time 

 remedy it by planting potatoes in their natural 

 tate. P. T. B. 



The principal object of our inquiry was to ascer' 

 ain what quantity of food the elephant consumed in 

 roportion to his live weight, in order to see how it 

 om[)ared with the quantity consumed by cattle, 

 orscs, sheep, &c. It has been said that "a very 

 »rge ox or cow, relatively to its weight, requires less 

 3od than an animal of smaller dimensions;" and it 

 ;ould seem reasonable to suppose that such is the 

 ase, seeing that there would probably be less vitality 

 .nd involuntary functional activity, or, to use a phre- 

 ological term, less mentality, in proportion to live 

 ■)eight, than in the small animal. If there were any 

 ruth iu the idea, one would think an elephant weigh- 

 ag as much as 50 good sized sheep, or 5 heavy hors- 

 a, would consume much less food in proportion to his 



weight than any other of our domestic animals. 

 This does not appear to be the case in any marked 

 degree, as the following facts will show. 



Iu Boussingault's experiments, the average daily 

 consumption of 17 horses aud mares, aged from 5 to 

 12 years, and weighing on an average 1079 lbs., was 

 33' lbs. of hay each, per day, equal to 3.08 lb,'-, of hay 

 per day to each 100 lbs of live weight. His milch 

 cows, weighing on an average 1466 lbs., are also al- 

 lowed 33 lbs. of hay per head, per day. This givea 

 to each 100 lbs. of live weight 2.25 lbs. of hay per 

 day. 



As might be expected, Boussingault found that 14 

 growing animals, from 5 to 20 months old, required 

 more food, or 100 lbs. live weight required 3.08 lbs. 

 of hay per day. 



Boussingault estimates from his experiments, that 

 pigs consume an equivalent of hay per day equal to 

 3 per cent of their^live weight. Sheep, too, require 

 about the same amount. 



In some experiments made in consequence of pre- 

 miums offered by the Worcester County (Mass.) Ag- 

 ricultural Society on the economy of cutting food for 

 stock, a pair of working o.xeu belonging to A. H. 

 Hawe.s and kept at moderate work, weighing 3134 

 lbs., consumed 75.2 lbs. of hay per day; or 100 lbs. 

 live weight consumed 24 lbs of hay per day. A pair 

 of steers, belonging to Harvey Dodge, weighing 2220 

 lbs., consumed 51.2 lbs of hay per day, equal to 2.84 

 per cent, live weight. Two dry cows belonging to 

 U. B. Demond, and weighhing 1784 lbs., consumed 

 43.5 lbs. of hay per day, or 2.42 per cent of their 

 live weight. Two milch cows, belonging to W. S. 

 I incoln, weighing 1800 lbs., consumed 43.2 lbs. of hay 

 per day, equal to 2.4 per cent, of live weight. 



Mr. Barnum's elephant, weighing 4700 lbs., con- 

 sumes 100 lbs of hay and a bushel of oats per day; 

 100 lbs. live weight, therefore, consume 2 12 lbs. of 

 hay. and 0.68 lbs of oats per day, or, estimating, as 

 Boussingault doe.=, that 68 lbs. of oats are ei|ual to 

 100 lbs. of hay, the elephant consumes 3.12 lbs. of 

 hay per day for each 100 lbs. live weight. To recapit- 

 ulate, therefore, 100 lbs. live weight of animal requires 

 of hay per day, in 



Worlting horeca , 3 08 



WoAingoxen ".2.40 



SlilclicowB, (Bouasingault'6) 2.25 



Do. Do. (Lincoln's) 2.40 



Young growing cattle 3.08 



Steers 2.84 



Dry C0W8 2.42 



Pigs (estimated 3.00 



Sheep .3.00 



Elephant 3.12 



There is considerable diflference in these figures, but 

 certainly not as much as might be expected from such 

 various animals. The elephant consumes the most, 

 the working horses and young cattle the next highest 

 amount, then the sheep and pigs, and what is surpris- 

 ing, the large milch cows of Boussingault consume 

 least of all. Working oxen would appear to consume 

 less than horses. On the whole, these figures give lit- 

 tle indication that large animals consume less in pro- 

 portion to their weight than smaller ones. — Country 

 Gentleman. 



Controversies are usually the result of misunder- 

 standing facts. 



