A PKIZE ESSAY. SI 
and 22 lbs. of hay per cow, and two and a half pecks 
of dung per day, or about 56 lbs. per cow. 
But according to some experiments, made to deter* 
mine' how much the quality of the food affected the 
quantity of dung, it appears that the solid and fluid 
excrements, partially dried, were, compared with the 
food, as follows:— 
Cattle. 
lbs. 
Sheep 
lbs. 
Horses. 
lbs. 
100 lbs. of rye straw gave dung, 43 
40 
42 
tt 
tt 
hay, “ 
it 
44 
42 
45 
a 
a 
potatoes, “ 
tt 
14 
13 
It 
cc 
mangel-wurtzel, 
tt 
6 
u 
tt 
green clover, 
tt 
91 
SI- 
tt 
it 
oats, “ 
tt 
49 
51 
It 
tt 
rye, “ 
tt 
53 
My own experiments on this subject gave for 100 
lbs. of hay and potatoes as above, estimating both as 
dry, or free from water of vegetation, 32.9 lbs. dung, 
and this estimated as dry is reduced to 5.6 lbs., or 26 
lbs. of dry food gave 14 lbs. of dry dung. But as a 
general fact, we may say, that well-cured hay and 
the grains give one half of their weight of dung and 
urine; potatoes, roots, and green grass, about one 
tenth. It will be easily understood why the quality 
of food should affect the quantity of dung. The more 
watery, the less in bulk is voided, because there is 
actually less substance taken. And as the animal re¬ 
quires this to form his flesh, and blood, and fat, and to 
keep up his breathing, so will he exhaust more com¬ 
pletely his food. More going to support him, less is 
returned by the ordinary channels. So when much 
vegetable fibre exists, as in chopped straw and hay, 
then, as it goes but little way toward supporting 
breathing or forming blood, a greater bulk is rejected. 
In grains, on the contrary, which afford much of all 
that the animal requires, less is extracted and more 
