ECONOMY OF FARMING. 27 



person gives 10 or 12 lbs. of chopped hay, and 16 lbs. of bruised oats to large horses; 

 and the following mixture is also given as a good one, by yet anotlier : 



( 8 lbs. of bruised oats, C 22 lbs. of steamed potatoes, 



In the day ^3 " of " beans, At r^in-hf < 1^ " of fine barley dust 



(4 « of chopped straw. ai m^ni ^ 2 « of chopped straw, 



^ 2 oz. of salt. 



15 lbs. 251 lbs. 



The advantages of the entire provender as manger meat, are the followino-: 



1. It requires more mastication, and thus assists digestion, and promotes the nutri- 

 tion of the animal. 



2. It consumes less time. 



3. By mixture, an equal consumption of the whole is secured ; part of which if 

 separately given, might be refused. 



4. It may be more readily weighed and measured, and thus avoids the injury done 

 by unlimited allowance. 



5. It prevents waste ; the saving is estimated as high as ^, or even by some | of 

 the rack meat; but probably these are too high, and it may fairly be put at 

 about -^. 



Respecting the utility and comparative advantage of soiling, we find it stated in 

 the same volume, that it consists in a more economical consumption of grass, whether 

 natural or artificial, than by grazing ; in the accumulation of manure ; in the quiet 

 and coolness which cattle enjoy under sheds, or in the stable, and in their beino- 

 always ready when wanted. 



" A medium-sized farm-horse, at customary labor, consumes from 84 lbs. to 100 lbs. 

 of green food daily, with the usual allowance of corn or grain ; 20 horses have been 

 supported for three months on 6 acres of tares or vetches ; 51 head of horses, cows 

 and oxen, on 15^ acres of mixed herbage, equal to ^ a perch per day ; in another in- 

 stance, about I of a perch per day is allowed for each. As to soiling on luzerne, 2 

 horses have been kept at hard work on I of an acre, for 4 months ; and again, 25 

 horses for 20 weeks on 11 acres ; and yet again, 3 roods have kept a horse 19 weeks. 

 In Holland and Flanders, where soiling is conducted to great advantage, the usual 

 estimate is half an acre of meadow-grass, from the middle of May to the middle of 

 June, and from that time to the end of August, ^ of an acre of clover is added, with 

 2 lbs. daily of beans. 



Thus much with respect to feeding, as regards horses. 



On the other side, as regards oxen, we may also quote from the same authors : 

 Thus Burger, Vol. II., p. 256, says: " The ox does not bear the heat well, and needs 

 more time for eating than the horse, because he ruminates. In great heat, oxen tire 

 unusually soon. One must therefore work with them in the cool time of the day, or 

 change them often. In Friuli, in the summer from 2 past midnight till 8 in the 

 morning, they frequently plough with lanterns. In the great farms of North Ger- 

 many, they change the oxen every 4 hours. Since the ox is a ruminating animal, 

 he must have time not only to eat, but also to ruminate the fodder given him. At 

 labor the ox must have more nutritious food, not only because he uses more strength, 

 but also because with food not so nutritious, he loses more time of the day for eating. 

 In winter, the ox will be satisfied with straw, mixed with a little hay. He labors not 

 at all or little, and can take his time for eating, ruminating and digestion. But when 

 he labors much in the summer, he needs, to be strong, much and strong nourish- 

 ment ; and because he cannot have much time for eating and rumination, the nutri- 

 tious parts must not be contained in too great a volume ; that is, not be mixed with 

 too great a portion of unnutritious substances. While employed at labor, therefore, 

 the ox must either have a very good rich pasture, or sufficient green clover, vetches, 

 &c., in stall-foddering, or a sufficiency of good hay, or in heu of all these, salted- 

 chopped-mixture, with grain." 



Of fodder he says, as partly quoted on p. 11 : " The winter fodder of cattle consists of 

 hay, straw, roots, plants, with knobs and grain. The earlier these materials of nutriment 

 are cut fine, or are made easily digestible by scalding or boiling, the more successfully 

 can they be given to animals and the less of them will be needed. Hay as a shorter, 

 thinner and moister body is not usually cnt, and whoever fodders hay in the winter, 

 as is the case in Italy, in many parts of Switzerland and Holland, has the least trou- 

 ble in taking care of his beasts. Straw should always be cut in order to mix it more 

 easily w^th hay, and to spare the beas's the breaking to pieces of the long stalks. In 

 our mountains, in Upper Stiermark, Tyrol, and Salzburg, where the breeding of 



