180 WORCESTER SOCIETY. 



15 pounds thus given, than 24 or 25 pounds as commonly 

 expended (including waste) in the usual manner of feeding in 

 racks, to which troughs, properly constructed, are far prefera- 

 ble. This practice has been now tested by experience ; and 

 the result accurately proved." The name of Judge Peters, 

 then the President of the Philadelphia Society for Promoting 

 Agriculture, and one of the best practical and scientific farm- 

 ers of his day, would insure to hi^ recommendations the 

 highest consideration, but it is to be regretted, that he had not 

 given the facts on which his opinion was founded. Farmers 

 are generally so much prejudiced against all information that 

 appears in print, that they will not believe, unless furnished 

 with all the evidence in the case, from which they may draw 

 their own conclusions. 



In the Bath (England) Society's Papers, republished in the 

 fourth volume of the Massachusetts Agricultural Repository 

 and Journal, page 138, is a communication over the signature 

 of Thomas Williamson. He says : " I have throughout the 

 summer, kept my horses in the stable, feeding them with good 

 hay and beans. My oxen have, on the contrary, always been 

 turned out to grass, when liberated from their work ; they 

 have had the range of good pastures, and the benefit of some 

 less valuable hay, previous to their going to their labor. My 

 horses, five in number, have been regularly worked at the 

 plough in pairs. The oxen, four in number, have worked in 

 collars, drawing generally a stout Beverstone plough, or a 

 large drag and scuffer ; their labor has been constant and rather 

 severe. As our meadows (mowing lands) began to fail us 

 towards the end of September, owing to the quantity of stock 

 upon them, it became necessary to allow the oxen more and 

 better hay. 



" The increased expenditure alarmed me, as the four oxen 

 and the five horses, consumed no less than four tons within one 

 month. This caused me to prohibit the use of hay in the 

 racks, and to feed all the cattle with chaff; of which a boy»can 

 cut sufficient for daily use in two hours. 



" My servants not only ridiculed the change, but so far as 

 they dared, opposed, in an underhand manner, by various eva- 

 sions and pretexts. Aided by the care and vigilance of the 



