20 ECONOMY OF FARMING. 



of the farm, one can determine for himself, if he knows the cost of their 

 keeping, and the amount of labor which they will perform in a given 

 time. 



3. Those beasts of labor are for the time the most profitable which 

 yield for the business of the household the necessary labor at the least 

 expense of keeping them. 



4. Since ths support of horses and oxen occasion not equally great ex- 

 pense, and the nature of the soil and climate is better adapted sometimes 

 to one and sometimes to the other kind of beast, therefore it is most profita- 

 ble sometimes to keep horses and sometimes oxen. 



5. In dry plains, where there is less growth of grass, no pastures, or 

 poor ones, or short grass, and only a few sour meadows, it is more profita- 

 ble to use horses than oxen. 



[By smir meadows, are meant those where the water saturates the soil without 

 covering its surface, and where instead of sweet grasses the coarse bog-grass, 

 &c., ta!<es their place ; and that hay which thus grows on bog-Ian J is called sour 

 hay.— Tr.'J 



6. Whore the growth of the grass is favored by the climate and soil, 

 with a sufficient extent of pasture and meadow, the labor of oxen costs less 

 than that of horses. 



Horses will do well on sour hay, but oxen poorly : horses need only some sweet 

 hay, if they are also furnished with straw and grain ; oxen require a greater quan- 

 tity, and where hay is costly, to feed them in the stall over the summer with fodder, 

 as regards the labor it requires, is dearer than that of horses. Where one has suita- 

 ble pTistures, and the oxen can be kept cheaply on them after the spring sowing, or 

 where one has suilicient meadows, and the raising of plants for fodder yields a sure 

 and great product, oxen will furnish the given labor at the least cost. 



[In regard to the points embraced in the preceding paragraphs, and the question 

 of the comparative cheapness of horses for labor, there seems considerable diversity 

 among ditlerent writers. The amount of labor is a subject which will be considered 

 by and by, as also the difference of original cost, &c. The cost of keeping, &c., has 

 been examined closely by Thaer, Veit, and others. The points here are. Which 

 requires the most costly food in kind, which the greatest amiount, and which 

 the most care and labor in feeding? &c. I shall quote somewhat largely on 

 these and collateral points from these authors, and the more so as they have never 

 been translated into English, and many of their experiments have been unknown 

 among the farmers of our country. With reference to the keeping of horses, 

 Thaer, Vol. I. p. 76, says, "In respect to the cost of keeping the horse, the ibl- 

 iowing things are to be considered. The usual grain-fodder is oats, and many hold, 

 that ifonly will answer. But it is certain that any other grain, given in the proper 

 way, in proportion to its nuiritiousness, is useful and healthful. The husk-fruits, peas, 

 beans, and vetches, are unusually well adapted to the nature of the horse, and sur- 

 pass, on account of their preferable nutritiousness, even the grains. The most profit- 

 able fodder for horses, therefore, is that which in proportion to its nutritious power is 

 cheapest at any given time. They stand in the following proportions : Oats = 5 ; 

 barley = 7 ; rye = 9 ; wheat = 12 ; husk fruits = 10 or 11. Together with grain, 

 horses should have hay, which is very nutritious, and chopped straw, which serves 

 only for tlie demand of mastication and filling the stomach, but in a dry state 

 very little for special nutriment. Accordingly, as the hay is increased, the grain 

 may be diminished, and vice versa. In more rapid and stronger labor, an in- 

 crease of grain fodder compared with hay is desirable: but in more enduring labor 

 an increase of hay, according to experience, is more profitable. In the whole, grain 

 makes the horse stronger, hay makes him more fleshy. A moderate-sized, common 

 working-horse, needs on an average through the whole year, daily 9} lbs. or 2^ 

 messen''(= about 7f quarts) of good oats. Together, with this he requires 9^ lbs. 

 of hay, in order to keep him in usual strength for contiimous labor. Further, straw- 

 hacksel is given between the grain, which one increases or diminishes according 

 as he gives more or less hay. 



