econo:nIY of farming. 35 



4 cts.), then 230 ll^s. of hay will be reckoned at 23 groschen (= 56 cts.), or 100 lbs. 

 at 10 o-roschen (=^20 cts.), which indeed is not too much lor many regions, but yet 

 is a sufficiently good reckoning of hay used. The fattening with turnips, cabbage- 

 turnips, but especially with potatoes, spares much hay, and effects the object in a 

 quicker time. Cabbage-turnips, according to many experiments in the fdtiening of 

 oxen, deserves great regard ; since the beasts eat these roots better than potatoes, 

 and with a similar quantity of hay, are soon fatted. Of equal value too are beets, 

 as the experiments of Dombasle prove. Thaer maintains, that if a man, in place of 

 30 lbs. of hay give only 10 lbs., and supply the other 20 lbs. by 60 lbs. of potatoes, 

 the ox will be better fed and sooner fatted, which is very clear ; since thus 3 lbs. of 

 potatoes, or indeed 1 lb. of dry, and in a great measure, mealy substance, is given 

 instead of 1 lb. of hay. 



" Fattening with grain produces the greatest effect in the shortest time. This 

 should be given either whole or ground to meal, and mixed w^ith Hacksel, or given 

 with their drink in a raw or in a fermented state. Grain broken up, or coarse meal 

 mixed with some salt, strewed over chaff-mixture (Hacksel), is the most common 

 method of feeding, I have found in many of our farms, that for fattening they make 

 a certain quantity of meal mixed up with salt water, into paste-balls of the size 

 of large apples, of which, after the oxen have eaten hay or Hacksel, they give them 

 by piecemeal twice a-day. Arthur Young found the same practice in Provence, and 

 it seems to me that it is far preferable to giving meal with salt to the beasts without 

 Hacksel. To mix a portion of grain-meal with water, and make it thus agreeable 

 to the beasts, is indeed as suitable as it is profitable ; but to employ all the meal in 

 this way is unprofitable, because the dry fodder without meal is less acceptable, and 

 will not be eaten by the beasts in sufficiently large quantities. To mix up a certain 

 quantity of meal with water, and set it into fermentation by leaven, and then give it 

 in a dilute state to oxen as drink, produces a greater effect than when the meal is in 

 an unfermented state. That one may fatten swine v.'ith fermented meal-drink is 

 known ; but that fatted oxen may be fed in this manner is less known, although it is 

 evident that what will make svv^ine fat must also have the same effect on oxen. In 

 the South of France, Arthur Young found this practice. It is not unknown also in 

 Alsace (see Schwertz Alsace Husbandry. 91) ; as also in some regions of Upper 

 Steirmark, fermented meal-drink is used as fattening food, and it is maintained by 

 the farmers of these regions, that it produces considerably greater effects than raw 

 meal or common meal drink. I must here mention in passing, the mixture of one 

 part of meal, and two parts of boiled or steamed and broken-up potatoes, which are 

 suffered to go into acid fermentation, and then fed out ; of Avhich I have given a more 

 particular notice under the Fattening of Swine. See Vol. II. p. 336." 



" A small piece of usual leaven is mixed up with tepid water, in a vessel full of 

 meal, to the thickness of a dougrh, and this is set in a warm place to ferment; in this 

 one obtains leaven enough to ferment rapidly half a metzen (0.S5 bushel) of meal. 

 This meal is placed in a large vat, with tepid, but not hot water, and with that vessel 

 full of leaven made into a thin paste, by which it soon ferments. While this is going 

 on, a metzen (1.69 bushel) of potatoes is steamed or boiled, and broken up, and in a 

 hot state thrown into the fermented dough, and well mixed together. The vat needs 

 only to be f full, because the mass swells by fermentation. The greater quantity 

 one prepares at once, the more acid it is. so much the more do swine love it, and 

 so much the more useful it is for them. The addition of a handful of salt produces 

 an admirable effect. In feeding it out this thick dough should be thinned with water, 

 or, what is better, with sour milk, and given three times a day. to swine." 



"How much grain must be given to beasts in fattening them, depends on their size, 

 on the greater or less capacity for nourishment of the grain ; also, whether it be 

 given whole, broken up, ground into meal, raw or soaked, or fermented. Of the pro- 

 gress of fattening, we must judge by weight, measure, and handling the beasts. 

 Strachniss's rule is to multiply the square of the diameter of the beast measured 

 behind the shoulders, by the lencrih from the point of the shoulder to the end of the 

 rump, divide this sum by 54. and the quotient will be the slaughter weight of the 

 beast. He mentions also, two commitations with sv^ine and a Vv^cther, where this 

 formula gave the flesh-weight tolerably correct. My friend Sollner after many ex- 

 periments, fixed upon 67.5 as a divisor, and w^ith oxen and cows which weigh more 

 than 200 lbs., this formula ffives the slaughter-weight very correctly, but not with 

 lesser animals. In proof how correctly the rule answers, I subjoin the following 

 proof; taken at tlie excellent farms of Karlsberg and Krug. 



