ANNUAL COST OF HORSE-KEEP. 195 



At the rate of 1 2 lb. per diem, a horse consumes 

 some 79 trusses of hay per annum. As 40 trusses 

 go to the ton, we will call it 8 trusses for simplicity 

 of calculation. He therefore consumes two tons of 

 hay annually, and this, being reckoned at £5 per 

 ton, will give a total for hay of £1 annually. 



Allowing oats to weio-h 40 lb. to the bushel, each 

 sack, therefore, weighing 160 lb., he will, at the rate 

 of 10 lb. per diem, consume about 1 1-^ quarters (i.e., 

 2 3 sacks) per annum. Reckoning the price of oats 

 to be £1 per quarter, the annual cost will be £11 1 0s. 

 With straw at £3 per ton, and an allowance of 8 lb. 

 per diem, he will consume about one and a third 

 tons annually, which will give a cost of £4. 



Allowing a bushel of bran every month, which is 



a very good allowance, and the price of it to be 1 s. 



per bushel, one gets the following figures, which 



represent the annual cost for ordinary forage, viz. : 



£ s. d. 



Hay 10 



Oats 11 10 



Straw 4 



Bran 12 



26 2 



It will be seen, therefore, that the cost of the 

 actual food for a horse is not very great, or nearly 

 as heavy as people are apt to imagine, and this, set 

 against the cost of hiring, would probably show a 



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