3l^obt.oas77a^sb &^t^ ^w--\ e substance, is therefore more easily digestible, and possesses a pecuhar aiia acceptable taste. (b ) Beans, (c.) Vetches and lentils. Less usual are (d.) Barley, buckwheat, maize and rye. 2. Hay, must be given with the richer grain-fodder to fill the stomach. Yet rarely is the whole need of fodder obtained from hay, because the volume therein for nutri- ment is too great for the stomach of the horse. To the voluminous materials of fodder must be given at least a third part of fodder of the value of hay in less volu- minous grains, or juicy plants. 3. Since the nourishing power of straw is contained in a greater volume than in hay, and it is also hard to dissolve, therefore, as contrary to the peculiarity of the organs of digestion of the horse, it should rarely be given for the principal fodder, but always as an auxiliary fodder, cut small (Hacksel) with hay. Where the grain is good and the hay has not sufficient consistency, the straw Hacksel serves especially, for establishing the requisite proportions of the solid and voluminous nutritious matter, to the moist and more powerful with less volume. How hardly otherwise the horse digests straw his excrements show, in which the straw Hacksel is very often found unconsumed. Of the different straw, oat is best. 4. The green fodder has opposed to it the disadvantage of the large volume-, the want of consistency, and the long time which working horses need to take a sufii- ciency for their nourishment. But as, if it consists of meadow grass and clover, it belongs to the cheapest materials of fodder, therefore one employs Tvith tlie i?reatest advantage f to f of the demand for nutriment of it with Hacksel, and makes^up the remainder with cheap grains, and old hard-stalked hay. 5. The root and knob-plants, have in common with the green fodder the peculi- arity of too great wateriness, and the want of consistency, but prove a valuable aid in the mixture of nourishing stuff of opposite qualities, and they can in a dry state supply the place of the grains, and are cheaper. Their employment as fodder de- serves therefore the notice of all. Carrots are the most useful and agreeable to horses. Yellow Swedish turnips follow next, then beets, then white Swedish tur- nips, then white turnips. Potatoes foddered green to horses are not so agreeable on account of their sharp taste, as turnips, but in a dry state, and then coarse broken, or soaked and mixed with Hacksel, &c.. they are very nutritious and acceptable. A strong, sound horse, and kept daily at work, uses much fodder. Luzerne hay is three times cheaper than oats, and one may give of it f , of turnips, mixture of grains, len- tils, or maize ^, of the fodder needed in the worth of hay ; then the horse fodder is not only suitable but also cheap, scarcely 20 kr. — 15 cts. per cwt. It follows from the above explanations, that the fodder for horses must be easily digestible, not too voluminous, of proper consistency and made fine, that it must also be masticated, so that it can be easily and soon swallowed and digested, and will not fill the stomach too much. Accordingly the grain should be ground coarse, hay and straw cut to Hacksel as fine as possible, roots and knobs made fine and dried or moistened or baked. But the most successful digestible and powerful fodder for the horse, is bread which is made out of meal of grains and potatoes, and from bran baked, broken fine and fed out. If a person chooses for such a purpose the cheaper grains, this species of food will be very cheap. The mixture of the dif- ferent materials of food must be so made that the more solid shall stand in corres- ponding relation with the moist, the juicy with the dry, and the more nutri- tious with the less nutritious, so too that the better cannot be sucked out from the less so, or the light be blown away from the heavier ; and so that especially the cheapest possible fodder may be obtained by the mixture. According to the before determined quantity of fodder for the different domestic animals on the farm, a horse of moderate strength with a live-weight of 11 cwt. must have as his need of nutriment, i. e. conservation-fodder. 2} lbs. for every 100 lbs., therefore in a day 30 lbs. worth of hay, and in a year 109.5 cwt. ECONOMY OF FARMING. 23 This need of fodder can be provided for out of different materials of fodder, as follows : NECESSITY OF FODDER. Quantity. Worth in Hay. Cost. With the usual fodder, of oats. .... « hay, " straw, . . . With much cheaper fodder, of a mixture of maize, lentils, vetches, then roots and knobs, . . . of hay, .... " straw In a day. lbs. 7 13.5 5 5 16.5 2 In a year. Daily. SchafTel. 14, or 87 bush. cwt. 25.55 49.27 18.25 lbs. 14 13.5 2.5 93.07 18.25 60.2 7.3 30 12.5 16.5 1.0 85.75 I 30 Yearly. Per cwt. ol worth of hay. cwt. 51.1 49.27 9.12 fl. kr. cts. — 50 = 37 J- — 22 — 40 16J- 30 109.5 45.62 60.22 3.65 -36.5=27 30 = 22^ 22 = W 40=30 In the whole. fl. kr. 42 35 = $20,43 18fl. 3kr. = $8,66 6fl. 4kr. = $2,91 66fl.42kr. = $32,00 22fl.48kr. = $10,92 22fl. 4kr. = $10.59 2fl.26kr. = $1.03^ 109.5 25.9 = 18i The Schaffel is 6.223 bushels Enorlish. 47fl. 18kr. = $21,69^ According to a five years' average of foddering horses, from the year 1825 to 1829, the following quantities are required to a head: — Weight. Worth in I Hay. I Hdcksel of 5 parts 1 Hay, and 3 Straw. Of Hay. Weight. Worth in Hay. Worth of whole in Hay. Work horse for a heavy team, u w u light " . Stallion, Chaise horses, 3 — 4 year old, .... 2 — 5 " " . . . . 1 — 2 " " . . . . * — 1 " " . . . . lbs. 10 7.5 6.5 6.5 4-L 3.75 2.5 2 lbs. 20 15 13 13 9 7.5 5 4 lbs. 12 10 10 10 10 8 7 5 lbs. 4 4 4 4 4 3 3 2.5 lbs. H n 2 lbs. 35i 23| 26i 26i 224: 18 141 11 Litter, rye straw, cut twice or thrice, for a work-horse which requires 30 lbs. worth of hay in a day, 3 to 5 lbs. daily, and in a year 11 to 18 cwt. The pound here is that of Bavaria. Burger also makes the following remarks on the kind of food for horses : " Where a man requires much and hard work of horses, drj* hay and green or dry fodder plants are not sufficient, but grain must also be given. What grain shall be given must depend on the price, compared with their nutritious power. In the North of Europe, it is usual to take oats as the universal grain for horses, because this is cheapest proportionately. But, because this is fed out so universally, the belief has spread abroad, that oats only will answer ; and if at any time any one feed out other grain and the horse should be sick, it is attributed to this food. Yet we see in a great part of Italy, maize, in the East, barley, in England, beans are used as food for horses with the best success. I have fed out beans, maize and rye the year long to my horses, when these kinds of grain were cheaper, and have incurred no damage. I must here observe that a very experienced farmer has informed me that the oil cake of beech-nuts is deadly to horses. Farm horses need daily, of dry stall fodder, 24 ECONOMY OF FARMING. 12 lbs. of hay, of oats 3 massl (=:10 quarts,) of which the bushel weighs 50 lbs., and 3 lbs. of chopped mixture of rye-straw and clover. Loach l.orstb nceu 10 ILs. oi hay, and a like quantity ol' oats and choppeu mixture ; sad le Ixorses. b lbs. of tiay, auvi a like quantity of oats: horses ibr carrying loads with 15 lbs. oi iiay, UhC b to o n.afcsl ^ = 20 to 2b quarts, i of oats if they urag daily 12 to 15 cvvt. 4 n)ilcs ^ 12 Knghsi. miles. DicKS0x\ says, that a man must give his \\orking horses <.aily, 10 lbs. of hay 5 anu lor the week 1.16 metzen of oats (=^ about 1 bushels,^ and mucii as cLojiea mixture. Gericke gives for a work horse | metzen of oats (:= buthel,) meizen ol 1 acl.iiti o. oat and rye-straw (=-r bushel:, and 4 to 5 lbs of hay uaily. .Cue h(,r^e r tion in the Austrian army consists of -•■ metzen of oats (=-0.72 quai-.t; anil b to 10 lbs. oi hay. Cavahy horses have 8 lbs., and drag horses 10 lus. of nay." Loulon, \o1. 11.. yp. 974 975, has some remarks respecting the horse which are not iiu\\ ] rojriate to ti.is place :— " The horse has one stomach only, and that a very siiiall tne. The situa- tion of the stomach is immediately contiguous to tlie (haphragm or great breathing muscle ; from which we are at no loss to under.- tand why a very luli meal obstrUv ts re- spiration, and why it is so very imprudent to galiojj a hor.:,e very haj-J aikr urinKing or eating very freely." " It is evident that too"^iull fceiiing must derange it (the stom- ach),liot only by keeping it constantly distended, and thus weakening its capaci.y. Lut by entrenching too much on its secreting office, and rt quiring an inorairatc quiainty of gastric juice to saturate an undue qviantity of farin. ceuus natter." - The exeriiot;s of Ihe horse require that he should tat largely and mitriiiously :— a horse will (at 2 or 3 pecks of corn, or 10 lbs. of hay at a meal and yet in a natural slate his stomach will not hold half of either. As an aninail destined ibr cuii^k as Vvcll as great ( xer- tion, his wants prompt him to take in a moderate portion of !bod only at a tinie. which his peculiar digestive powers peculiarly fit him to convert into nutriment quickly a' d efficaciously." ° On p. 1005, he says: ' Hay should never be jjiven in large quantities at a time; horses breathe uion it, become disgusted ami waste it." ' As b\u i~1i;utes for hay the straw of wheat barley, oats and^rye are used; but these are nai; h I ss nutritive, and rather serve to excite mastication by mixing lliem with otkn- nat- ters, than are to be depended upon for animalization." Cats is saivi to contain 748 parts of nutritious matter out of 1000. Among the pulse nsentioned. beans tire never to be given alone on account of their heating or ;: stringent quidilies, but ;ire to be mixed'vvith straw or hay cut into chalT. either whole or bro! en. / mong the roots, carrots stand deservedly high, are highly nutritious, genernte good fitsh are favora- ble to the action of the lungs, and frequently a course of them will remove the most obstinate cough. ParsnipsT Swedish turnifs and beets ak^o are good. Of nnxed food, one of the best is of" a chaff made of one part ot' the best meadow or clover hay. and two parts of wheat stra\v ; to 3bushels of this mixture add one of oals. The importance of bruising or flattening the oats is very gre;it." Corn (grain) sliould be bruised when used alone. •' A horse in full work, of whatever kind w ill require according to his size, a peck of sound oats in twenty hours." " Tlie quantity of hay required for saddle horses which are corn-fed, is from 6 to 8 lbs. in 24 hours. For wagon and flirin horses, from 15 to 20 lbs. may be requisite." '■ ]t sbonld be divided into 4 por- tions, the largest portion both of hay and corn (grain) slsould be given at night, the next largest in the morning, the other two txt noon and evening." On p. 101 1 : -' Tlie general management of farm horses in tlie improved districts of the North, may he presented as a good exam]ie. There, for about 4 months in sumnjer, horses are led in pastures, or on clover and rye-grass and tares cut green, and brouglit homie to the stable or fold-yard ; the latter method being by fir the most economical tmd ad- vantageous. For the other eight months, they are kept on the stra\y of oats, beans and peas, and on clover and rye-grass hay. As soon as the grtiss lails. toward the end of Autumn, they have hay for a few wee] s; and when the days become so short as to allow of no more than from 6 to 8 hours' work, they are very generally fed with different kinds of straw, according to the circumstances of tlie f.irm ; in the month of March, they arc again put to hay till th.e grass is ready for being cut. Througlsout all the year they are allowed more or less corn (grain) when constantly worked, and during 'the time they are on dry fodder, ptirticularly when on straw, they have pota- toes, yams, or Swedish turnirs". once a day. sometimes boiled barley, and in a few in- Btances carrots. A portion of some of these roots is ofg-rrat imrortance to the health ol horses, when succulent herbaore is first exchanered for hay at the end of Autunm, and it Is no less so towards the latter en;1 of Srring. when "htiy has become sapless and the labor is usually severe." "Such horses are fed with oats sorretimes with beans, 3 times a day for about 8 months, and twice a day f'>f the other four when at grass, and at the rate of S feeds a bushel each horse will eat 15 quarters = 120 bushels ECONOMY OF FARMING. 25 in the year. Wlion on hay he will require 22 Ihs. daily, ami 5 lbs. more if he does not gel roots. One Eaglisii acre of clover and rye-grass and tares may be neces- sary lor 4 months' soiling, and a quarter of an -icre of potatoes, yams, or Swedish turnips during the eigiit months he is fed with hay and straw." "The expense of feeding a horse throughout the year may therefore be estimated in regard to quantity as follows: "Oats, 13 quarters =120 bushels : Soiling 1 acre of clover and rye-grass and tares: Hay, part of October and November March, April and May, 1^ ton: Straw, for 4 other months half the price of hay: Potatoes, yams, or Swedish turnips, 5 acre." On the subject of feeding horses, we find in the British Husbandry, a work of acknowledged merit the tbllowing statements, Vol. I. p. 12G : '-The late Mr. Cur- w.^N, who tried more experiments than most men in feeding cattle, kept nearly 100 of his colliery and farm horses during the winter upon equal quantities of cut straw and potatoes stoamed together, in lieu of hay ; and found that some which were worked in the same manner, but fed with hay instead of potatoes were not in equal condition with the others."— (See Hints on tlie Economy of Feeding Stock, by J. C. Curwen, M. P.) His mo le of feeding as detailed by the Carron Company, who have adopted his plan is thus : " They have three tubs steaming at a time ; two of potatoes and one of chop])ed straw, chaff or dusting seeds ; they empty one tub of potatoes into a large mish tub by way of bottom layer; then the tub of chopped straw, and last the remaining tab of potatoes ; the wliole is wrought u]i and mixed with a large woo len i^estle ; and to this they atld a small quantity of salt. A bucket is brought for each horse with his feed of corn (bruised oats) in the bottom, and his proportion of the mash is filled in above ; when it is emptied into the manger, the corn is of course u]">permost, and the horse-feeder puts his hand through to mix it. They feed warm. The quantity of food and calculation of expense are as follows: (which may be reduced to federal money at the rate of 22 cts. for Is.) FARM HORSES. 1^ stone of potatoes at 3d. Os. 4^d. = 21 lbs. 7 lbs of cut straw Id. and cutting Id. 0 2 Steaming 0 0^ 7 lbs. long straw 1 8 lbs. of oats 0 8 1 4 nearly 30cts. COLLIERY HORSES. 8 lbs of hay and 8 lbs. of straw cut together . . Os. S^d, Cutting 0 1 7 lbs. of steamed potatoes 0 1.}- 6 lbs. of carrots • 0 2.ir- 12 lbs. of oats 10" After several years experience of the comparative merits of steamed potatoes and Btraw or hay, Mr. Curwen gave a deciiled preference to the former." It is also mentioned in the same work, on high authority, that " working horses have been kept throughout the winter entirely on steamed potatoes, to every 300 lbs. of which there was advled half a pint of salt and occasionally a small portion of sulphur, and that "fed in this mannertheyperformed with the grreatest ease all the common labor, of the farm without either hay or oats." The ditrerence of expen.se of a team of 5 horses during half a year, calculating the potatoes as worth 40s. (=to about $9) per ton, and hay and oats respectively at £3 (= about $13) per load, and 24s. (=: to about $6 per quarter of 8 bushels — would stand thus : HAY AND OATS. 5 horses, 1S2 days at 24 lbs. hay 21 840 lbs., or lOf loads at £3. £32 10s. Od. Ditto 26 weeks at 2 bushels each of oats, 32^ quarters at 24s. 29 0 0 £71 10 0 = §315 ECONOMY OF FARMING. POTATOES. 5 horses, 182 days at 50 lbs. each, 45 000 lbs., or 18 tons at 40s. X36 Os. Od. Washing and steaming at 2d. per 100 lbs 3 15 0 3 bushels of salt at 2s 0 6 0 Sulphur, 026 £40 4 6 = $177 71 10 0 Balance in favor of potatoes, . . . X31 5 8 = $138 Another estimate is, that 42 lbs. of potatoes and about 10 lbs. of straw without any oats is sufficient, except when the horses are employed on the road. Respecting carrots as a food for horses, Mr. Curwen says that, " when from 8 to 12 lbs. of oats are allowed to a work-horse per day, according to its employment, 4 lbs. may be deducted for 5 lbs. of carrots, and the spirit, condition, and ability of the horse be improved by the same." " Other accounts state a bushel of carrots to be given daily instead of oats." Again, elsewhere, " horses are fed on carrots with sometimes hay, and sometimes corn, and sometimes with only straw ; viz., 6 horses ; 2 loads of 40 bushels per week, no corn, and little hay. " " 1 load with corn in the spring-time, and little hay, " " 72 bushels per week, no oats, and half the usual allowance of hay. The horses are said to be in a superior condition than when fed on oats." " In Sur- rey, where carrots are extensively cultivated, a team of 4 good horses gets about 60 bushels per week until Christmas, with plenty of chaff or clover-hay but no corn, and after that 40 bushels are given with 2 bushels of oats, and a sufficiency of chatf." A mixture of 4 lbs. of boiled potatoes and 4 lbs. of bran, at each feed is also recom- mended. As respects the boiling or steaming food, its importance is seen from the fact, that " it takes a horse from three to four hours to masticate one stone of hay, but a mash of potatoes of double that weight may be eaten in 40 minutes." Potatoes it is said lose about -^ of their weight by the evaporation of the water when steamed, or about I if kiln-dried or baked. It is even said that it has been ascertained, that a bushel of oats boiled will maintain a horse in better condition than two in the common way. In another instance, the estimate for horses is daily in winter 15 lbs. of haj^ 10 lbs. of straw, and 8 lbs. of oats, and after every feed a bucket of water richly whitened with rye or oatmeal. The cavalry allowance for horses in barracks in the British army daily, is stated to be 12 lbs. of hay and 10 lbs. of oats ; but it is said that a common cart-horse required not less than 28 or 30 lbs. of the same food. The fol- lowing is recommended, the ingredients being divided into 4 classes, as food for horses : — 4th. Bruised or ground beans, peas, or v^rhite corn, . 5 lbs. 5 lbs. 10 lbs. 5 lbs. Hay cut into chaff Straw" « " . Steamed potatoes Malt dust or ground oil-cake Brewer's grains . . . . . 6 " — — — Bran _ _ _ 7 c« And 2 oz. of salt to each. 30 30 30 30 The following food is said to answer well for 8 horses daily : 1 bushel of beans ; 1 bushel of oats ; 1 bushel of hay and straw, cut into chaff. Of several farm-horses also it is stated, " When no beans are grown, their winter food is oat-straw or hay ; but in all other cases, bean-straw alone forms their winter provender, from grass to grass ; with a mess every night of bean-chaff, potatoes or turnips, and a little small- corn, all boiled together and seasoned with salt, and two feeds of oats per day, but only when hard worked." Mr. Stephens, Editor of the Gluarterly Agricultural Journal, and Author of the Farm-Book, mentions that a large coach-proprietor in Edinburgh, supports his coach-horses on 8 lbs. of chopped-straw, and 16 lbs. of bruised oats ; and that another 1st. 2d. 3d. 5 lbs. 5 lbs. 10 lbs. 7 " 8 " 10 " 5 " 10 " 10 " 5 « 5 " — — 2 « — 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 23 ECONOMY OF FARMING. cattle is the principal ohject of liusbaa:lry, straw constitutes a very essential part of tii2 vvinLUi- ib I bi- o," cattle. It slioul.l be cut from I to 2 inches long, which causes tDu'jle th it 0 13 muit expect. Guericke estimates that one man in 8 hours can cu 31 • m3tzii o' Hi37^r-?r//^a/, annrmer-^npllz. and aymmfr-ryp, for fodder, stands after oat and barley-straw ; but in many firms, where the straw of the usual species of winter-grains suonlies the need of litter, it is emnloyed for csjiecially the moister straw olsuTim'^r-wheat an 1 summer-sneltz. That of summer-rye is less nutriMous. "4. The s7 <■/''.• of nuii.zp (Indian corn) contains much sac^'.harine matter, and there- fore is very nii';ri-inns use 1 ^ne. an 1 agreeable to all kinds of cattle. The cob.s. after the corn has been taken oIT, ground u •, are likewise a very nutriduus fodder, and tlie ECONOMY OF FARMING. 29 hard stalks may be chopped up for the purpose. Taking all those things into view, it stands next to the straw of summer-rye in value as tbider. " 5. Millal-strdw lias a hard stalk, but contains at least as nnich nutritious matter as the straw of the winter-cereals, at the same time that millet is cut l»elbre it is iully ripe. '•6. B'icl.-iclteat, on account of its quantity on a field of less fertility, and if of fine stalk, in which case its value as fodder from its straw being ricii witli leaves, is en- hanced, is as good as the straw of the winter-grain. "7. The straw of the usual wiiitei-;Lr/ . . 50 2. After-grains. Wheat, . 50 Rve, * . * . 60 Barley, • • » 64 Oats. 70 Lcgumi.nous ruits, . 50 II. Root^ Kiioh and Cabbage Plants Potatoes, 200 Artichoke, .... 230 Red Beet, . . . . 300 Swedish turnips or cabbage turnips, 300 Carrots, 270 W^hite turnips, .... 400 Cabbage cOO Stalks of root and knob plants in a green state, .... 500 III. Fodder- Plants and Grasses. Luzerne sainfoin red clover, and all kinds of clover, with vari- ous species of grain and legu- minous p.lants used green for fodder. .... 90 Good meadow-hay, . . .100 Moss-hay, and other poor kinds of hay,' 150 Grassc.< and herbaceous cabbage plants in a green state, . 450 30 ECONOMY OF FARMING. 100 lbs of hay are equal to— IV. Straw with Chaffs of— Winter wheat, ") " speltz, I " rye, r " barley, J Summer wheat, l " speltz, > " rye, ) ' barley, Oats, Maize, or Indian corn, Millet, . Peas, Lentils, . Beans, Buckwheat, Seed clover, . Rape, Mustard, Gold of pleasure, Poppy, I Sunflower, lbs. 300 230 200 275 300 190 160 ISO 400 300 150 400 500 100 lbs. of hay are equal to — lbs. Chaff and husks, without straw, of — Wheat 150 Rye, speltz, and barley, . . 170 Oats, 150 Rape, 200 Gold of pleasure and mustard, . 230 Seed clover, 100 Flax seed, 130 Leguminous plants, as peas, vetches and lentils, . . . 150 V. Refuse in business. After meal. Wheat bran, > Rye " ^ • • Oil-cake, from poppy, flax, rape seed. Skimmings of barley in ' preparation of malt, Malt-shoots of barley, . 0 Barley beer refuse, . Brandy refuse. 50 75 60 60 Sour milk, .... Whey, .... From the forest. Acorns, chestnuts, beech nutSj . 125 300 900 maas, 121^ gall. 200lbs. 350 . 75 A. K. Block, who is referred to by Schwertz as a very distinguished writer gives the following table of equivalents : — 600 lbs. wheat straw, u u j.ye " « « oat « 580 " barley, " 560 " seed clover straw. rye or barley chaff. pea straw. wheat, pea or barley chaff, or vetch straw. clover, 2d mowing : usual meadow hay, 2d mowing. clover hay in blossom. best meadow hay. best clover hay, before blossom. oat grain. barley " rye " yellow peas. wheat grain. 2 lbs. of grain straw is worth as much as 1 lb. of usual meadow 500 480 326 300 280 250 118 100 100 89 80 Consequently hay, or 1 lb. of clover hay, mowed in the blossom, &c. We find the following table of equivalents, in some English papers, which is inserted by way of comparison : — 100 lbs. of good hay = 90 clover-hay, made when fully blossomed. (( « " 88 " " before it blossoms. (C (( " 98 clover, 2d crop. C( (( " 98 luzerne hay. (C (C " 89 sainfoin " (( (C " 91 tare « « (( " 146 clover. C( (( " 410 green clover. « (C " 467 vetches or tares, green. ECONOMY OF FARMING. 100 lbs. of good bay = 275 green Indian corn. 4( u " 541 cow-cabbage leaves. (( u " 374 shelter- wheat straw. (( li " 442 rye straw. (( u " 164 oat straw. u t( " 153 pea stalk. u 11 " 159 vetch " It C( " 201 raw potatoes. (( (C " 175 boiled " {( (C " 339 mangel wurtzel. (C (( " 504 turnips. (( (( " 276 carrots. (t « " 308 Swedish turnips. (( (( " 305 do. do. leaves on. tc (( " 54 rye. (C u " 46 wheat. (( li " 59 oats. « u " 50 vetches. (( (( " 45 peas. « 45 beans. cc (( (C (( " 64 buckwheat. (( (C " 57 Indian corn. (C (( '• 68 acorns. daily, ground or bruised grain, 1 lb. " ) 22 ECONOMY OF FARMING. e-wt. 1000 to 1200 <.'. 990 to 1200 u 1000 to 1400 (( 700 to 800 u 500 to GOO (.(. 60 to SO (C 80 to 110 (( 40 to CO u 140 to 180 a 50 to 80 h-qmrc feet. 140 to ICO 85 to 95 90 to 100 70 to 85 40 to 50 10 to 12 -8 to 10 6 to 8 -40 to 50 15 to 20." in winter-foJ 'cr, for 215 days. Imy, 14 lbs. ^ straw-fodder, 8 lbs, > daily, potatoes, 14 lbs. ; The extent of pasture required for different animals during a summer is given by Thaer us ibllows: " i^ or i cow. \^ yoke, — . to nearly 2 acres. For 1 horse, 2 yoke, = 2 - acres. For 1 drauglit or laboring-ox, 1 j yoke == 2^ acre, nearly. For a sheep or swine, -^^ of a yoke, 3 acre." Fl'iri says: -'In general, ivc may allow any amount of pasture to be proportioned as Ibllows ; the same space, ibr 12 cows, or 8 horses. 9 team oxen. IC coUs. 21 young cattle. 10 large and small swine who get their whole food from it. 120 head of sheep so as not to sutler want of food." The extent of stall-room for ditlcrent animals accordincr to Veit, is : For a horse weighing hve-wt. 1000 to 1200 lbs., " working ox, " fatting " " cow, " a bullock, " ewe, " wether, " yearling sheep, " sow, " a young boar, Thaer, Vol. I. p. 77, says : " The fodder of oxen is very differently orderi d in its quality and quantity. In common farms, where one uses oxen only part of the year, and wlicre there is a deficiency usuall}^ of winter-fodder, it is extremely scanty. They use in the winter months straw% and only in the spring wdien labor commences is hay given, which is reckoned at i2, at the highest 16 cwt. per head." " When oxen are kept in a good state, they must have in dry fodder daily on an average 20 lbs. of hay, and consequently 40 cwt. must be reckoned for one ox yearly." "In farms where so much hay cannot be given, it must be supplied by grain, and best ground or broken up. One metzen of oats (1.69 bushel) is as much Ibod as 1\ cwt. of good hay, or 1 lb. of oats is equal to 2 lbs. of hay. If therefore 3 lbs. of oats are given daily, then 6 lbs. less of hay may be given, and the ox remain in equal, pro- bably greater strength. The most profitable fodder for winter without doubt is with potatoes, or other nutritious roots. If an ox has daily 2 massl, (about 6| quarts) with 1 1 lbs. of hay, he will, according to much experience, keep in full strength. In the summer, oxen must be cither kept at pasture, and then one reckons 1^- usual extent of cow-pasture to an ox ; or the ox is foddered in the stall with green clover, (soiling) vetches, or other fodder-plants. A strong laboring-ox requires then daily on an average 5| square klafters of red clover (= 25 square yards), in two cuttings — consequently for the season ,\ of a yoke (= about f of an acre)." "Numerous ex- amples have proved that oxen remain in perfect strength, and abler to work than by going to pasture, if this fodder is properly managed. The cost of an ox there- fore, according to the different species of fodder, may be reckoned at: (a.) 40 cwt. of hay.— Summer pasture. (b.) 200 days, hay at 15 lbs. = 30 cwt. 'j " oats, 7 metzen = 12 bushels. 165 " pasture. (c.) hay, 18 cwt. daily, 2 massl of potatoes, is 21 metzen = 36 bushels. (d.) Stall foddering. Hay. 18 cwt. daily, 2 mjissl of potatoes, =21 metzen = 36 bushels, green clover. Veit divides the fodder of an animal into ^^ cnnserrat io7i-fo(ld rr,\vh\ch is the quan- tity necessary to keep the animal alive in his present state, and melioration-fodder^ ECONOMY OF FARMING. 33 the quantity necessary to be employed in improving his condition. Thus an ox of 600 lbs. of flesh or dead weight, uses in a month 600 lbs. of hay, or 20 lbs. daily to b© retained in his present state, wherefore his dead weight is to his living as 55 to 100, and therefore his live -weight is 1090 lbs., consequently his daily need of nutriment as conservation-fodder is 1.85 to 100 lbs. of live-weight. If now there is proportioned to 100 lbs. of his live weight daily 3 lbs. of hay ; then in the whole live-weight there would be 32.7 lbs., so that the surplus 12. 7 lbs. would be employed as melioration- fodder, and assimilated for the formation of fat and flesh, &c. Hence the conser- vation-fodder bears to 100 lbs. of Uve-weight, in cattle or kine 1.85 lbs., in sheep 1.85, horses 2 lbs., swine 3 lbs." Veit, also, in Vol. II. p. 420, thus expresses himself on the subject of fodder for cattle : " The solid, more dry than too watery, juicy, and moist materials of fodder, correspond more to the object of usefulness consisting in the performance of labor, because by strengthening the working-animal in labor, the organs of digestion are put into greater activity, whereby the easily decomposed, and rapidly assimilating mate- rials of food, quickly gather to themselves those that are not lasting, and therefore the duration of the process is shortened. The most suitable principal article of fodder in the winter is hay, partly uncut, partly cut with good straw for chafl' (Hacksel). In ad- dition also may be used root and knob-plants, broken grain, &c. If a greater quantity of juicy articles of fodder are used, it should not be omitted after each feeding to give for an after-food for each head 2 lbs. of long hay. Besides, let them drink as they wish, and in sufficient quantity, which, especially in warm weather and with hard labor, is indispensably necessary, and yet is so easily neglected. In the summer, green fodder usually forms the principal article of food. By itself only it is not suffi- ciently lasting. In such a case, it is to be cut on the Hacksel-board, and mixed with Hacksel from hay and straw, or at each time of feeding 2 to 3 lbs. of long hay, to be given alone. Care must likewise be taken to make an addition of bruised grain at short periods, in the greatest pressure of labor. The working-ox is more suscep- tible with respect to the weather than the horse, does not bear great heat or cold^ drought and wet so easily, and must therefore be employed at work with care : espe- cially is the working-ox injured by too great fatigue in a hot day, as well as by too hard driving and urging forward at a distance, or in returning home from work." " The yearly expense of the articles of fodder of a working-ox in Bavaria is — 1. In summer fodder from 1st of June, to the end of September, 120 days: green clover-fodder in the worthof hay daily, at 18 lbs. = 2160lbs.at23kreutzers(=16:|:cts.)percwt. = 8 florins 16 kreutzers =$3,96 long meadow-hay, at 5 lbs. = 600 lbs., at 22 kr. (=16cts.) ------- 2 " 12 « =1,05 bruised grain 1 lb. = 120 lbs. in the worth of hay, 240 1bs. at40kr. (=30cts) - - - 1 « 36 " =0,75 2. For winter-fodder through 245 days : hay per day, 14 lbs. = 3430 lbs. a 22 kr. - 12 « 34 '^ = 5,49 straw for fodder 8 lbs. daily = 1960 lbs. at 16 kr. (= 12 cts.) ------- 5 " 13 « = 2,50 potatoes 14 lbs. daily = 3430 lbs. in worth of hay = 1715 lbs. at 30 kr. = 22 cts. - - ^ - 8 " 34 " =4,09 for 91 cwt. of the worth of hay in the whole at 25 25 kreutzers, ----- 38 " 25 " = $18,54 Respecting the feed of oxen, Sir John Sinclair, in his Scottish Husbandry, men- tions the case of Mr. Walker, whose bullocks never tasted any other food during winter except turnips and straw, with perhaps a handful of hay while the ploughmen were eating Iheir dinner under the hedge, that they were never spared a day's usual work ; and that he had ascertained that thus fed one ox was equal to the work of two on hay alone. There is quite a difference in the nutritive matter of turnips of diflferent varieties. The Swedish turnip appears, from a comparative estimate given in the British Husbandry, to be the most nutritive, as 30 tons yields 216 cwt. of nu- tritive matter. The quantity of water in turnips and potatoes is said by good autho- rity to vary in different kinds, so that 100 tons of turnips contain sometimes only 9 tons of dry feeding-matter, and sometimes more than 20 tons, and potatoes some- time" only 20, sometimes 30 tons. In the Annates de I'Agriculture Frangaise, Dec, 1828, mention is made of a kind of sourcrout used in Prussia, and which is prepared by "putting cabbages into large stone receptacles, after chopping them and sprinkling tliem wi^ salt The mixture 5 34 ECONOMY OF FARMING. is then allowed to ferment The peasants of Swabia, also preserve the leaves of cabbage, beet, an 1 other roots for ieeding their cattle. After throwing them into boiling water, they heap them up in deep casks or boxes 5 or 6 feet square, fixed on posts. Every Sth day they add new layers of leaves, which they take care to salt. The whole tlien becomes sour, and when preserved for winter use it Ibrms excellent food." I have taken occasion to introduce the above views and calculations in this place, as they seem most appropriate here, and will be found useful to the intelligent farmers of our country, though some of them of course must need modification, as the price of iiay and labor is generally so much higher with us than in Germany. The further points of the question respecting the comparative advantages of horses or oxen, will be presented hereafter. — Tr.J 7. Besides the difference of the cost which the support of oxen or horses occasions, we must also take into view, the difference of expense of their purchase, the unlike depreciation in value by use, the different hazards, their value, either wholly or partially lost after death, their harness, he. Horses m the first purchase cost almost double what oxen do ; their value is di- minished in a like ratio ; they grow old after six years ; defects of beauty have an important influence in the sale of them ; their harness and shoeing is more expensive ; and if they happen to receive an injury which disqualifies them for work, their whole value is lost, because after they are dead they can be put to no use : whilst oxen, by the same amount of labor do not equally depreciate in value, even if they are old, in 12 years; faults of beauty have less influence in sinking their value ; their harness is as simple as it is cheap, and their being shod when used in tillage, is unnecessary ; and when killed they answer for food ; the working ox too, unfit for labor by being fatted, is made of great value, and even in the event of some misfortune, if killed in a leaner condition, his value is only partially lost. [On the subject of fattening oxen, our Author, in Vol. II. p. 258. has the following observations : " To fatten oxen simply on hay can only be profitable where there is great natural growth of hay, and the hay has no higher value than it holds in fatten- ing one's own cattle. The greatest experiments concerning the fattening Avith hay, are related by Count Podcwill, in his Wirthsch. Erfahrungen II. Th. 58. (Agricul- tural Experiments, 2d part, p. 58.) From the year 1784 to 1800, he had 1497 Polish, and 226 country-breed oxen, fatted on hay. Late in Autumn, they pastured on the meadows, after the second-mowed crop was brought home, and were stalled about the 1st of November. They were fed only on hay, and were slaughtered in small divisions, from the end of December till the middle of June ; on an average they were foddered 20 weeks. Each ox received weekly, on an average, 187;^ lbs. daily, 26 1 lbs. of Vienna weiaht, CI lb. = to about 1| lb. English.) of good sweet hay, W. For fattening one ox, 3745 lbs. were required. How much they gained in weight in fattening is not given, but only how much they gained in value : and from this the conclusion is drawn, as to the increase of flesh, which is not the correct mode. A Polish ox cost in the purchase, 58 florins 53 kreutzers, Conv, gold, (= $28,25.) and was sold for 75 fl. 45 kr. (= $36,33) ; there was Iherefbre a gain of 16 fl. 52 kr. (=1 $8.08) ; but since for housing and fodder, for interest on purchase capital, implements, &c., there must be deducted on each head, 3 fl. 16 kr. (= $1,50), so 3745 lbs. of hay must be reckoned at 13 fl. 36 kr. (= $6,52) if the straw-litter is made to balance the manure, as Podewill does. One hundred weight of hay here for fattening costs 21^ kr. (=16 cts.) According to Table IV. (in his work), the mean of the fatted oxen slaughtered in the house, was in flesh 376 lbs., and 45 lbs. of tallow. But ac- cording to Table 38, the Polish oxen weighed in flesh and fat only 397 lbs., the country-breed ones 359 lbs. The pound Vienna of flesh is put at 6.71 kr. (about4cts.), a pound of tallow at 15.65 kr. (about 12 cts.). and the hide at 6 florins ( = $2.88). The cwt. of flesh, according to Table IV. is reckoned at 15 fl. 54 kr. (= $7,60| cts.) and Bince the gain of sale over the purchase, on a head, was 16 fl. 52 kr. (^ $8.08). it had in 140 days gained only a little more than 1 cwt, and the gain was very small, if we bring not into the account also the bettering and raisin tr the value of the mass of flesh of the whole stock of cattle. Thaer assumes, but I know not from what expe- riments, that an ox of 700 to 750 lbs., to which is daily given 40 lbs. of good hay, will daily gain about 2 lbs. If the wortli of a pound oif fat flesh is 2 groschen (about 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. ECONOMY OF FARMING. Measure i n Inches. Flesh Wt. at! laughter Year and 'i"" "^ elnmrhtpr. Kind of Beasts. weight Circumf. Length. given. Flesh. Tallow. inches. inches. lbs. lbs. lbs. 1827, Dec. 23, Cow, 9 years old, 72 54 420 402 50 1828, Jan. 11, u 7 « u 70 51 375 390 50 (( " 30, Ox, 6 " « 73 57 455 459 (( u u U U U (( 75 53 447 436 u Dec. 28, Calf, 3 « « 62 50 288 290 1829, Sept. 30. Ox, 5 « " 75 52 438 419 53 1830, Feb. 30: Calf, 3 " « 66 50 326 326 1831, Dec. 13, Cow, age unknoAvn, 64 50 305 323 1833, Jan. 9, Bull, 4 years old. 90 61 740 772 40 « ' Feb. 23, Cow, age unknown, 68 53 366 381 60 li April 3, u a u 74 53 434 372 40 (( " 16: Ox, 5 years old. 81 57 575 566 19 1834, Feb. 6, Cow, 4 years old, 70 55 404 411 50 (( Nov. 24, u Y a u 67 50 343 316 20 ({ Dec. 21, u 6 u » 66 51 328 330 20 1835, April 10, " age unknown, 76 56 484 460 80 (( u u (( a u 71 55 416 381 56 (( Dec. 13, " 11 years old, 67 49 336 321 60 1836, Jan. 30, Bull, 5 « " 80 57 546 620 40 (i March 16, Ox, 82 56 565 524 75 U u u 80 80 56 56 1072 1016 150 9657 9583 From a great variety of experiments, it appears that 100 lbs. of live-weight of a beast, not fattened, yet not lean, gives 52-54 lbs. of flesh-weight, and if the fat is reckoned, 56-59 lbs.; of the half-fattened, 54-60 lbs. of flesh, and with tallow 59-63 lbs. ; and entirely fattened, 61-64 lbs., and with tallow 70 lbs. 100 lbs. of flesh give, with lean beasts, 6-8 lbs. of tallow; with half-fattened ones, 9-12 lbs. ; but with fat- tened ones, 13-27 lbs. The fleshy parts of less value, as entrails, head and feet, are to pure flesh in the 4 quarters in a lean beast, as 20-22 ; in half-fattened, as 15- 20 ; in fattened, as 8-12 to 100 lbs. From this it appears how much more profitable it is for the butcher to buy fat cattle, even if considerably dearer, than lean ; because with the absolute weight of the beast he obtains more fatty parts, which, as tallow, is often doubly more dear than flesh ; because he obtains a better price for the fat- tened animal ; because the head has a higher proportionate value, and because there is muchless weight of such flesh, as frequently has only half the value of better flesh." In the 2d volume of the British Husbandry, p. 392, it is stated. " The stock-bailiff of the late Mr. Curwen always calculated from his experience, that the dead-weight was equal to -^^.^^^^, that is to say ^ths of the live weight." The following rule is also given : " The girth is taken by passing a cord just behind the shoulder-blade, and under the fore-legs ; this gives the circumference ; and the length is taken along the back, from the foremost corner of the blade-bone of the shoulder, in a straight Ihie to the hindmost point of the rump, or that bone of the tail which plumbs the line with the hinder part of the buttock. The girth and length are then measured by tlie foot rule." Tables have been constructed by different persons, calculated on the stone of 14 lbs., "by multiplying the square of the girth by the length, and this pro- duct by a decimal, which may be assumed as nearly .238 for the live-weight; the dead-weight is ascertained by multiplying the live-weight by the decimal, .605 ; thus -1^0*0^ will give the product of the four quarters." Mr. Renton. however, states that for a half-fattened ox, must be deducted 1 stone for 20 from that of a fat ox : for a cow which has had calves, 1 stone must also be deducted, and another if not properly fat." "Mr. McDerment proposes that in case of very fat animals A- or -\ part should be added to the weight obtained by measurement, and when below the ordinary state of fatness, the same proportion should be deducted. Old milch cows which have had a number of calves should have ^ or -^^ of their weight de- ducted." ECONOMY OF FARMING. 37 The following results are given as thus measured alive, and the weights Eia having been IbunJ nearly accurate when the animals were killed, 14 lbs. being allowed to I stone in live weight, and 8 lbs. for dead weight. GIRTH. LENGTH. RENTON's TABLE. m'dERMENT's DO. CARY's GAUGE. ft. in. ft. in. st. lbs. st. lbs. st. 5 0 3 6 21 0 20 11 21 4 0 24 0 23 11 27 5 6 3 9 27 1 27 0 27 4 9 34 4 34 2 34^ 6 0 4 6 • 3S 8 '33 8 38| 5 0 43 1 42 12 43 6 6 4 6 45 9 45 3 45^ 4 9 48 0 47 10 48 7 0 5 6 64 6 64 2 64* 6 0 70 5 69 13 70^ 8 0 6 6 99 8 99 0 99| 7 0 107 5 106 9 109^ "Mr. Douglas's mode of calculating is, By decimals square the girtliinto itself and multiply the leagtii into the square of the girth; if the beast is fat. multiply by the deciiiial .21:. it' only half tat, by .23. The tbregoing rule is very accurate, if cattle are divided into claases, and tiie multiplying decimal proportioned : thus if what ie technically termed, Justkillable, multiply by .22, Fair beet; •' - .23, Fat, " " .24, Very fat, " " .25, Extra tat, « ''- .26." The average of five different breeds, carcass and offal, are given Oi" carcass, to 10 stone of live- weight, nearly 6 stone, Of oifal 3-^ to 10 stone of the carcass. Thaer in Vol. IV. p. 240, gives the following formula as one used in England, by Proctor Anderson: - Take half the live-weight; add f of the same to it, and divide by 2. Thus an ox weighs, live-weight, 700 lbs., ^ is 350, tof7C0 •• 400, 750. divided by 2 gives 375 lbs. 20 lbs. live Aveight therefore, gives 10 flesh weight." Thaer says that'' with some- wh t fitter oxen 20 b^s. will give 11 lbs., and v*'ith fully fattened ones, 12 to 12| lbs." On t'lic su ject of summer f ittening, he says there are two kinds, pasture and stall-feeding; pasture-feeding is on rich pastures, which hence are called tUt-pas- tures. " In the m rshes of the lower Elbe, it is customary to pasture the grr.ss-land once, and to mow it once. A tcnced lot or one separated by ditches, is appropriated to the fattening ottle in the spring, and a crop of hay is taken from another, then the c ^ttle pass from th.tt to this, and that is now sp ired and mowed. In these regions they reckon for gre t m irsh oxen, which have a flesh weight of 900 lbs., a marsh morgen of 430 squ^ire roils. containing sixteen feet each, which makes 1'- of a yoke, (= 2 3 of an acre)." ''Green st dl-foddering is not often practised for fattening cattle, I know however many examples where it has resulted well. Oxen can be made very fit with green clover if it is given in suitalde quantity. An ox eats 180 to 225 l*)s. of green clover in a day, with which he must have good straw, which he may e t at interv ds. If one could give part of his food in hay or dried clover, his green fodder wouKl no doulit be more successful. A drink of flax-seed cake has been used with particularly good effect, towards the close of the f ittening period." *'The winter f ittening with hay only in regions rich in hay. is sometimes practised. An ox wliich Vv'ill weigh 630 to 675 lbs., and daily uses 36 lbs. of good hay gains daily 1 lbs. or weekly 12. lbs."— • If an ox, in place of 27 lbs. of hay, has daily 54 lbs. of potatoes and 9 lbs. of hay, or weekly 363 lbs. of potatoes and 63 lbs. of hay, accor.ling to numerous experiments among us, he will be in a better state and stronn-er. If the fattening time lasts 16 weeks an ox gains 201 lbs. of flesh and fat. He consumes, if fed on hay only 4702 lbs., if on potatoes also, 1018 lbs. of hay, and 67 mpt.'^en IS lbs of potatoes (probably the Austrian metzen, which is 1.69 bushel, therefore 67 metzen = 113,,-o^V bushels). If the fattening time lasts 20 weeks, 38 ECONOMY OF FARMING. the ox must, in hay-fodder consume 50r0 lbs. of hay ; or with potatoes. 1272 lbs. of hay, and 84 metzsn of potatoes ( = nearly 146 bushels)." Veit is also full on this subject. Yet as bis authority is high, I will quote him somewhat at large. He examines the subject with reference to the choice of articles of fooJ, the quantity, and modes of preparation See Vol II. p. 432. On grass- pasture, he says : " This mode of fattening can be used only in rich lowlands, or natural or artificial fat pastures, and on moist, w-arin. grassy mountainous regions. Such rich pastures produce the cheapest fodder and hence the highest profit if the grasses and plants on them possess sufficient nourishment to make the beasts fat. " Green fodder, clover-grass, and mixture of fodder. Cattle readily eat and fatten on these kinds of green fodder ; but butchers complain of the want of the firmness and productiveness of the fat ; and here it is usual to addat every feeding-time, especially in the last period of iattening, ground-grain or other nutritive articles of food. " Hay of all sorts. Good meadow and clover hay, is very common as a principal fattening-fodder, at least in the first and second periods of fattening, and with or without juicy fodder ; and only in the third period of the commonly diminished ac- tivity of the digestive power, is this voluminous fodder lessened, and instead of it, a loss voluminous, richly nutritious and easily-digested kind given in a proportionate quantity. " Knob and root-plants. These are used in very many farms, as the principal article of feeding; because their volume is small, they can be easily mixed with all other kinds of fodder-stuffs ; the most suitable proportion between tlie nutritive power and the volume, between the watery and dry parts can be so easily regulated ; and the tlirinaceous and saccharine principles, as the two most efficacious constituents of a corresponding fattening food, exist in them in a great quantity, and in an easily-dis- solved state. Of these the fattening-cattle can take g to i of the daily need of nutri- tive substance, in hay-value. " Grains. These operate the most profitably in the production of flesh and fat in a great quantity, and of the best quality, and are tlierofore the nios-f p:i('t^lh)it fattening fbod. But their volume is too small to fill the belly sufficiently ; and hence they must be mixed with more voluminous fodder-stuff. " Of particular efficacy is the ground grain fermented like bread-dough, and for this purpose mixed with boiled potatoes is made into a thick dougli Avhich after 24 hours is stirred up in its fermenting or fermented state in lukewarm water, and is used partly as a drink, and pardy mixed wnth cbafl' ''or Facksvl). Eut among A\ the arti- cles of food , the grain-fruits, malted and baked into bread, produced tlie greatest effect. "Of the grain-fruits, it is usual to give ^, at the highest ;', of the reed of fodder in hay value ; the less quantity in the beginning, and the orea-er towards the end of the fattening. In an economical point of view, the grains belong to tl'e dearest materials of fodder, unless their cultivation especially is so carried on, as to produce them with the least cost. Whoever in fattening will employ the sfreatest euantity of \he grains, must above all give his attention to the cheapest possible production of the same. "Of the kinds of straw, one should choose only a good, rot entirely ripe straw of op.ts, barley, lentils, vetches and peas, which should be produced by the proportion of his husbandry in large quantities, and for the most part only for the purpose of filling up and extending the paunch in the first period of fattening, and to prepare it for the reception of greater masses of food. "Oil-cake, of rape-seed, flax-seed, bran; the remains in the starch and b.^Pt-sugar manufactare; whey, sour milk; horse-chestnuts, acorns; in short, all articles of food, which possess much nutriment in a small volume, and can be obtained cheaper than grain, are valuable aids in fattening". . " Salt belongs to the most excellent aids to keep the digestiv^e organs in crrnnior ac- tivity, to increase the srrow^th of fit but especially to imrrove the ouality of the flesh and fit. This should be given in sreater Quantity towards the end of the fattening period. Only with the soured ("pickled ) fodder, l^ss salt need be given. Amonn- the most efficacious aids to digestion, are reckoned bruisod o-entian-roofs. iunirer-berty beer, and horse-chestnuts. They are mixed with salt. bran, and malt-shoots; let this mixture be given ^ hour before the morning feedinsr. in the first period twice a week ; in the second 4 times, and in the last daily. This mixture has a particularly profita- ble influence in sickly and lean beasts. A principal question in foddering- fattening cattle is. How much fodder can he em- ployed to advantage? All experience afrrees in this; — that it is only the rapid fat- tening which gives the highest results. The more fodder one can give to the fatten- ECONOMY OF FARMING. 39 ing cattle in a definite time ; so much the more mehoration-fodder will be derived from it ; and so much earlier will the fattening be completed. The quantity of fodder, so far as it can be perfectly prepared, and assimib.ted by the organs of digestion, has its limits. For a surplus on the one hand, occasions a limitation of the powers of digestion, and on the other, a waste of the fodder ; whilst with too little fodder, the fattening is protracted too far, and becomes too costly. " Universal experience shows, that an ox, in his last period of fattening, must have double his conservation-fod ier, (1.85 lbs. of hay-value to 100 lbs. of hve-weight) ; therefore daily 3.7 to 4 lbs. of hay-value to 100 lbs. of his live-weight. In the last period of fattening, the digestive activity of the fattening beast is evidently circumscribed. But since exactly in this period, the most nutritious, and most easily-digested articles of fodder may be reached ; so they are able to take of them still more than in the earlier period they can of the more voluminous means of nutriment. For the first fattening period then we fix upon about 21 lbs ; for the 2d, 3 to 3^ lbs,, and for the 3d, 3^ to 4 lbs. in hay-value to the 100 lbs. of live-weight, as the daily conservation-fodder. " Usually cattle need to be fed 3 times in the day; when fed 4 times, the beasts have too little time for rest, and to ruminate their food. If fed twice a day. such daily fodder is first laid, in which the voluminous, coarse fodder forms the chief fattening- fodder, and therefore also the slower fattening is chosen as the most suitable. In this case, the beasts enjoy a long, unbroken rest, as the cheapest means of improvement, and thus use up perfectly the nutriment given. "Among the most essential conditions of success is the order, in which the materials of fodder should be given at each feeding, and the interchange of the different kinds of fodder. "At first, we give the more voluminous means of nutriment, Hacksel of hay and straw, with juicy fodder, roots and knobs, &c. ; in the second period of fattening less of the voluminous, or hardly-digested, and more of the easily-digested and stronger, in greater interchange, and in increased quantity ; and in the last period, the most easily-dissolved, nutritive and most efficacious for forming flit, as well as the most palatable. In this last period, great care is required to keep up tlie already declin- ing digestive activity by tempting anew the sinking appetite, and thus introduce so much food, and sustain the organs of assimUation in such efficiency, that either the increase of weight of the animal or the perfection of the mass of flesh and fat may pay sufficiently for the increased expense." " The 3 periods of fattening are usually so divided, that the last shall be the shortest, because the most costly ; in which there is the least increase of weight, only the mass of flesh and fat is perfected. If at the time of beginning of the fattening, the oxen are in a good condition, not in a lean, but in a sound state, they can fat up ten the lesser ones weighing from 8 1 to 9^ cwt.. in two months, and others weighing from 10 to 12 cwt. in 3 months. Most commonly we allow 3 months to the former, and 5 months to the latter, and in the longer fattening, where more of voluminous coarse fodder is given, than of the nutritious, the period reaches to 6 or 8 months. In the first and second period, the fattening cattle gain the most flesh ; in the third the most fat. and grow better, especially as to the flesh. Very fat animals, therefore, towards the end of this period, may show no increase of weight on the scales, but yet with stronger appe- tite to consume their fodder, stand in a profitable condition, on account of bettering the quality of the flesh and fat. Whether the half (to the middle and end of the second period of fattening,) or the whole fattening, be the most profitable, depends especially on the state of the market, and on the quality and quantity of the materials of fodder provided." As to the amount of fodder consumed, the following table may be taken as a specimen of many furnished by Veit : — PERIODS OF FATTENING. FODDER-MATERIAL CONSUMED. I. 1 II. 1 III. Averasfo of the 3 periods. Hay value. Hay value. 15.31bs. 5.5 6.14 10.76 Hay value. 18 21bs. 2.4 102 123 Hay value. Hay, Straw, Grain Juicy fodder, .... 13.31bs. 7.7 2 9.1 15.5 5.2 611 10.7 32.1 37 7 43.1 37.5 40 ECONOMY OF FARMING. The following are some of the results summed up by Veit. There were 5 experiments : the first with 28 ; the second with 16 ; tlie third with 4 j the fourth with 60 ; and the last with 13 cattle. The averages were as follows : " 1. Average live- weight at the purchase, . . . 1080 lbs. 2. " " " sale, . . . 1397 " from the beginning to the end of 3. " fattening, .... 1238.6 4. " increase of weight in the whole time, . . 317 5. " daily " " " . . . . 2.9 6. Duration of fattening, 5.4 months, or 23 weeks, or 162 days. 7 Average value of fodder consumed in a day, at hay value, 37.5 8. Of this for conservation-fodder, 19.9 9. " ♦' melioration-fodder, . . . 17 6 10. Average amount of fodder for one ox, ... 5548 11. " of this as conservation-fodder, . . . 3213 4 12. " " " melioration "... 2334.6 13. " quota of fodder on 100 lbs. live-weight per day, 3 14. " conservation fodder " '• " " 1 85 15. " increase " " hay- value of entire fodder, 5 57 16. " " " « '^ melioration fodder, 12 17. Average price of oxen, each, at purchase, . 72 florins = $34.56 18. " •' " at sale 134 fl. = '64^32 19. " surplus to cover cost of keeping the whole time. 62 fl. = 29,76 20. " •' for the day ' 21 kr. = 18 21. «• cost of purchase of 1 lb. live-weight, . . 4.04 kr. = 3.03 22. " amount of nett proceeds. " " . . . 6 kr. == 4.5 23. " entire cost of one ox per day, .... 13.2 kr. = 10 24. Of this foi the fodder per day, 9 7 kr. = 7.2 25. '• " " " « cwt 26.24 kr. = 197 26. Proportion of cash value of fodder to a cwt. of hay value, 54.6 kr. = 40 8 27. " " " " for the week, 2 fl. 22 kr. =1,12 28. " « " « « day, 20 3 kr. = 16 29. Clear profit in the whole, each, . . . 26 fl. 33 kr.=12,72 30. " " on the 1 cwt. of hay value, . . 28.56 kr. = 22** On page 455, he says : " The hve-weight is to the dead weight in the following proportions : IN 100 POUNDS LIVE WEIGHT — Fle.sb. T.i!Iow. ToE^efhor. Of lean animals, 43-46 3—4 46—50 '' half fattened, 50—53 5-7 55-60 " fattened. 54-60 7—10 61—70 And 100 lbs. of flesh give. of tallow: In lean animals. 4-7 lbs. " half fattened, 9—12 *' fattened, 14—20 The fleshy parts, of less worth, as entrails, head and feet, are to the flesh of the 4 quarters : In lean cattle, 18—22 " half fattened, 15—20 " fattened, 8—12 to 100 lbs. The weight of the head is to 100 lbs. of flesh 9—18 lbs. ; with smaller rattle, the larger, and with greater ones the lesser of these weights ; or in small animals of a live weight ol 6—8 cwt, 40—50 Ihs. ; with middle sized of from 9—10 cwt, 55—70 lbs.: and with great one.s. of 11—16 cwt., 80—100 lbs. The price of fattened ox-flesh, on an average of many years, is from 8—11 kreutzers, = 6—9 cts. : of the cow 1^ to 2 kr. cheaper." The following are the results of the increase of weight in the case of a fattening ox weighing, live-weight. 12 cwt ECONOMY OF FARMING. 41 Duily need of Daily Incre.is'^ of weight. lOf the Vitlue of the increase .a fo(l(ior reckon- Of this as inctease of 1 proportion to 100 of weigiit proportioned to 3 U.«> ed in iidv Vj.- weigiit. pounds of 100 Ids. •^i^2. lue. ■ B-'^ On 100 lbs. live weight. On the 12 CvVt. Conser vatioii fodder. Meliora- tion Am't. fodder. Value, at 5krs. nearly 4 cts. pel lb. Collect'd fodder. Meliora- tion fodder. Collected fodder. Meliora- tion fodder. Is lbs. lbs. lbs. lbs. lbs. kreutzers lbs. lbs. fl. krs. fl. krs. cts. 2-L 30 22.2 7.8 0.75 42 2.3 8.9 — 13 8 — 53.4 40 = 3^cts =10c. — — — 1,0 6. = 4i« 3.3 12.8 — 19 8 =14i 1 16.8 60^ 3 36 22.2 13 8 2.0 12.0 =^9 " 5.5 144 — 33.0 =25c. 1 26,4 67^ — — — — 2.5 15.0 = 1U« 6.9 18.0 — 414 =:31C. 1 48.0 84 3J- 42 22.2 19.8 3.2 19 2 7.6 16.1 45 6 1 36.6 75 =^14 " =34c. — — — — 4. 24. = 18 " 9.5 20.0 — 570 =42c. 2 — 96 4 48 222 25.8 4.5 27.0 = 20 « 9.3 17.4 — 55 8 =41|c 1 44.4 81 " ~ — ~ 5. 30. = 22^« 10.0 19 3 1 =48c. 1 55.8 90 According to all experience it follows, as to the increase of weight from all the given quantities of fodder: 1. The daily increase of weight for the before-mentioned weight of a fattening ox is 0.75 to 5 lbs. / 2. On the 100 lbs. of the entire fodder, (conservation and melioration-fodder) it is 2, 3 to 10 lbs. ; and on 100 lbs. of melioration-fodder, on the other hand 9 to 20 lbs. 3. The weight of the beast and the cash-product of the increase rises with the increase of melioration-fodder in so profitable proportions, that even the dearest means of fodder themselves, as melioration-fodder, show themselves so much the more lucrative, as exactly the richest in nourishment, and also animalize themselves, and therefore pass into direct usefulness the sooner, and with an unlike greater part of their natural weight, than the other voluminous materials of fodder. — Tr.] 8. Finally, we must take into consideration the amount of labor which horses and oxen can perform, in a given period, if we would decide re- specting the one or the other. Because horses perform more in the same time than oxen, and are better adapted for many kinds of work; so it not rarely happens that labor is carried on cheaper with horses ; a person gains more in the less number of the horse-teams and the men required for them, compared with the greater number of the ox-teams, than the cost of their keeping, and the interest of the out-lying capital. If the ox-team in a given time performed as much work as the horse-team, it would unquestionably be cheapest to use them for all the work of the farm, and quit the use of horses wholly ; but because oxen are much slower in drawing, and a yoke of them, if they are strong and well-trained, will accomplish in favorable circum- stances only 4 or + of what a good span of farm-horses will; therefore if the keeping of oxen is not unusually cheap, on account of the increased number of teams and of men required to take care of them, there will be greater expense with oxen, than with horses. [This question has been much discussed by different writers in Germany. Thaer, Vol. I. p. 71, thus states the substance of the arguments for and against. " ffarfies have an undeniable preference in the following particulars : "They are suitable for all and every kind ofwork of land-husbandry, in all ways, and in al! weathers. One. therefore when he keeps only horses, is not obliged to choose out work for them, but can use his whole team for any business that occurs, and leave no part of it to stand still. " They accomplish every kind of work more rapidly, and are more constant. One 6 42 ECONO^^IY OF FARMING. can, therefore, not only complete the work in the same time more promptly, but also require a longer cl;iy'.s work of them. Thus the wagon will acconiph^h more with an equal nunuer ot horses than with oxen ; although with the usual draught of a load, tiiey exert not more power than oxen, yet they overcome by their rapidity of motion and energy, many a short resistance before wnich oxen stand still. '• In favor oi'Duan. are the following: "Tuey perform the greater part of the works on a farm, as ploughing, and the near carrying oi' loads, as well as horses do ; and one can in a usual day's work, if tiiey are well fed, expect nearly as much from them. They perform the work of plough- ing in a certain degree better than horses. '• Tiie cost of them is considerably less. Their purchase, on an average, is not near so high ; their harness is much cheaper, their food costs much less, and consists in such tilings, as on account of its transportation, are not so marketable as the grain, on which horses are kept. '• VV^hat is an important particular is : that if they are weh taken care of, and not too long kept at work, they lessen not as much in value, but improve for the most part; so tnat they olten sell for more than they at first cost, and thereby soon pay the interest on the standing capital ; whereas, on the other hand, the value of the horse Boon sinks to nothing, and the capital is wholly exhausted. They are also subject to fewer hazards and casualties. " Tney demand less attention, as one ox-herd can take care of 30 oxen, if others work with them by change. '' Finally, they give a greater quantity of excrement, which in general affords a more productive manure than that of horses. Such horses and oxen must be com- pared, the relation of v/hich in respect to their condition and care, are not unlike, &c. '• There can, therefore, be no doubt, that those labors which can be proportionally well performed by oxen, will be done cheaper with oxen than with horses. If a farm had ordy such work to be done as is convenient for oxen, and it could be executed with allowing time to rest, &,c., then oxen should be used. But if, according to recent experiments, another fodder can be iatroduced for horses than corn, and thus the expense be lessened, then the question between horses and oxen would probably Btand ditlerendy." Veit. has also discussed this question with his usual philosophical accuracy and practical skill ; and presents us with the following views in his 2d Vol. pp. 527. &c. After alluding to various experiments by which the cost of a day's work of a horse was found to be from 21.45 kr. to 2S.8 kr. (= 18'. to 21.6 cts.), while that of the ox was 20 kr. (= 15 cts.) , he proceeds to compare the two. In furor oHior^ies compared with o.?-e;?, he says: '• 1. The horse performs about one-third more labor in a day than the ox ; (a horse can, with good treatment, work 10 hours in a day, and in a year 250 to 290 days' work, and his age endure to 16 or 20 years •, , and in the pressure of work and unfavorable circumstances of the weather, may more certainly be strained without danger on account of the unusual performance, than can the laboring ox; which is to be reck- oned highly, because at the time of sowing the seed in the spring, and in harvesting, a greater part of the results not rarely depend on the despatch of the team at work. " 2. On account of their power and continuance, horses also can be used a greater number of years and of days in the year, for labor, than working oxen. " 3. They can be employed in bad open, stony, uneven ways ; in more unfavor- able, wet weather ; in greater heat ; in winter ; and for more remote and more rapid carrying of loads, where o^;en cannot be used to advantage, because these go more slow, have not so hard a hoof, and show themselves more affected by the influences of the weather. "4. Horses may be used for many kinds of work in the cultivation of plants, for drawing sowing-machines, shovel and hilling-plough : for treading out grain of differ- ent fruits, &c.. for which oxen cannot be used. ''5. If one has occasion to avail himself of horses, or provides himself, at the out- set, with young strong animals, then they would hold out a long course of years in work, whereby the danger of loss would be avoided, or very greatly diminished; which the frequent change of the team occasions. "Oil the other hand, the following are the disudvcuilages of keeping horses, or in favor o'i oxer, : " 1. The outlay of capital is important; greater by one-half than that of working- oxen. ECONOMY OF FARMING. 43 " 2. A working-horse uses more, and better fodder, than the working-ox, which increase of the quantity and quaUty of fodder, other circumstances of tlie value of fodder being equal, is at least a third part of tlie food of an ox, which in time of necessity, is satisfied with the smallest quantity and of ditierent quality, " 3. The other costs, of keeping, team-harness, appurtenances oi" carriage, shoeing, care, repairs of apparatus and buildings, &c., are higher in the same proportion, than for wor ing-oxen. " 4. The horse has, if no more used for labor, no value for use ; therefore, the pur- chase-capital nmst be recovered iVom the number of years, whilst the laboring-ox, after his performance of labor, ca;i be fattened with great profit. " 5. On account of their temper tinent, horses especially, in case of the care of them being neglected, are exposed to many inflammatory complaints. The risk, therefore, is so much the greater, as they are of no value after they ar3 dead. On the contrary, oxen are exposed to fewer illnesses, and for the most part of the asthenic kind, of longer duration, in consequence of which, if danger threatens, they can yet be slaughtered. " 6. The working-horse gives, though he needs more fodder, less manure than the working-ox." '' Hence, from these results the following rules follow : " 1. That in farms where cows are used for the conunon team-labors of husbandry, Bone or kw oxen should be kept ; on the contrary, more horses, and particularly for all those kinds of work which can be performed neither by cows nor oxen with equal profit. " 2. That in countries where horses can be procured to advantage, and many and remote carriages are to be made over the land, and many grounds lie at a distance from the farm-house, the roads and ways are in a bad condition, &c., more horses should be kept than oxen. "3. That on the contrary, where fattening-fodder is easily produced or obtained, and the fattening of cattle is profitable ; or where the proportionate fodder for oxen is easier raised than that for horses, more oxen should be kept than horses ; and of these latter, only so many as those labors demand, which cannot be performed by other kinds of working-cattle." Veit gives also the following as the rate of insurance of the different animals mentioned, which may show how the hazards of exposure to death are viewed by those who have been at pains to ascertain these things : Oxen at 1.3 per ct. Cows 12 " u Three year old kine 1.0 " (( Two year " " 1.1 " ii One " " " 2.0 » (( Cows of different kinds on an average 1.2 " u Horses 4.9 " ii Sheep 7.7 " ii Swine 2.9 " ii The losses by fatal accidents are difforent according not only to the different spe- cies of cattle, but to different ages : as the following table shows : LOSS ACCORDING TO PER CENTAGE OF VALUE. Horses. Ki ne or Cattle. Sheep. Swine. From their birth to their weaning, 5 3 10 12 " weaning to 1 year old, 4 2 8 6 " 1—2 years, _ _ - 3 2 7 3 '• 2-3 /• - - . - 3 1.5 5 3 During the time of being used - 5 2 5 4 Loudon, quoting from the Gentleman Farmer, has the following, among other ob- servations, deserving consideration on this subject, Vol. II. p. 782. "Another objec- tion is, that an ox-team capable of performing the work of two horses, even such kind of work as they can perform, consumes the produce of considerable more land than the horses. If this be the case, it is of no great importance, either to the farmer or the community, whether the land be vinder oats or under herbage and roots. The only circumstance to be attended to here is, the carcass of Ihe ox ; the value of this in sta- ting the consunnntiTn of pro lu33 must be ad led to the value of his labor. He con- sumes from his birth till he goes to the shambles, the produce of a certain number of 44 ECONOMY OF FARMING. acres of land ; the return he makes for this is, so much beef, and so many years labor. The consumption of produce must therefore be divided between these two articles. To find the share that should be allotted to each, the first thing is to ascertain how many acres of grass and roots would produce the same weight of beef from an ox, bred and reared for beef alone, and slaughtered at three or four years old. What remains has been consumed in producing labor. The next thing is to compare this consumption with that of the horse, which produces nothing but labor. By this sim- ple test, the question, viewing it upon a broad national ground, must evidently be determined. Every one may easily make such a calculation suited to the circum- stances of his farm ; none that could be ofl'ered would apply to every situation. But it will be found, that even if three oxen were able to do the work ot two horses, the advantages in this point of view would still be on the side of the horses; and the first objection (as to being unfit for a variety of labor, exposure to the weather, &c.) ap- plies with undiminished force besides." Respecting the comparative advantages of horses and oxen, in the British Hus- bandry, it is given, on high authority, that the work of 107 oxen may be done by 65 horses — and, in some parts of England, it is said, that 5 or 6 oxen are equal to 4 horses. Another person quoted in the work estimates the number of oxen necessary as compared with horses as 3 to 2 on a hght soil, or 2 to 1 for heavy soils. Bailey and CuLLEY, in their Comparative Estimate, to which the author of British Hus- bandry attributes great weight, give it as the result of their conclusions, that 2 horses are equal to 6 oxen in regular work, and to 8 during the first year. In the decision of this question, in respect to the national value of either animal, Messrs. Bailey and Culley. also saj'', that a working animal is generally supposed to con- sume the produce of four acres of good land annually ; and as an ox eats ^ more in weight than the horse, his food is equal to five acres ; but as he can be partly fed on straw, he might be maintained on 2^ acres a year, while at work; and 1^ acres will be required to fatten him for the market. B'arm horses average for work 12 years ; and in that time will wear out four team of oxen used only 3 years each ; and supposing 1 horse to be equal to 2 oxen, the land required will be, 1 horse till fit for work - - - - 6 acres 12 years' Avork, at 4 acres - - - - 48 " 54 acres 2 oxen till fit for work, at 5 acres - - 10 acres 3 years' work, at 2] acres - - - - 15 " fattening, 1^ acres each - . - . 3 " This amount 4 times in 12 years, 28 = 112 acres. The difference then would be 58 acres ; but eight fat oxen would, in this time, have been brought to market. The practice which prevails in this country, as is well known, is different in differ- ent sections. In many cases both horses and oxen are used ; indeed this is usually the case where the farms are of a moderate size ; as persons need horses for their travel from one part of the state or country to another. Horses are more exclusively used in the middle and southern States ; oxen more so in the Eastern or New Eng- land States.— Tr.] 9. Teams of oxen or horses are two or more spanned. 10. The number of animals required for a team, must be determined by the difference of the strength of the animals, and the burden or weight they have to overcome. 11. Most kinds of labor of the household (Hausehalt) demand no greater exertion of strength than 2 stout oxen or horses can supply ; and since 2 beasts costs less to keep than 4, and one man only is needed to take care of them ; therefore it is self-evident, that the use of the two-spanned team is preferable to that of more. [By a span, the author means a single animal ; thus two span is with us a one- yoked team ; four spanned, a two yoked one, and so on. Sometimes 3 are used to- gether, 2 ntarest the plough or cart, and 1 before them; this is called a three spanned team. — Tr.] ECONOMY OF FARMING. 45 12. Hence is clear the necessity of providing a good, strong, and well- fed team, which costs more at the first, and must he better fed ; but which also gives a greater profit by its greater labor, and by the saving in the number of beasts and men, than a weak, small, and poorly fed one. Where the breed of the beasts of labor is small, but the soil heavy nnd binding, there indeed it is necessary to use 4 or 6 or more span before the plough ; we often find 4. 6, and yet more yoked together, even when the beasts are large and strong, or the soil easy and mellow ; and then there is a waste of power, and greater means are applied to the attainment of the object, than are necessary. In many countries it belongs to respectal>ility, and is thought to be a mark of being well oftj to plough with and drive 4 stout horses, or 4 and 6 great oxen, and it is considered mean°to have only 2 ; so that for the sake of this satisfaction, one is contented to sacrifice a portion of the profits of his farm. There are few kinds of work which cannot be per- formed with 2 good beasts of draught, either horses or oxen. Such exceptions are, the breaking up of clover, or those lands which have lain fallow for a number of years, in clayey soil, and the driving the plough to an unusual depth. All other kinds of work can be performed with 2 span. When it is thought that 4 beasts paired work as quick as 2, because each one has to overcome less resistance, this is an error. The 4-span goes somewhat quicker, it is true, in the furrow, but does not double so quickly ; and since the turning about of a 4-spanned team needs more time than a double span, so the quickness of the former, compared with the latter, is. on the whole, by no means greater ; it is often less. Arthur Young laid a wager with Lord Egremont that, with 2 oxen and one man, he would plough more in a day than his competitor could do with 6 oxen and two men ; and he won (Begtrup A. a. C. II. Th. 39) ; though we would not maintain, that in all circumstances, a person with 2 oxen would be in a situation to plough up a greater extent of ground to the same depth. Mr. Young probably had a pair of ten year old, well-trained, and very powerful beasts, an able, trusty man, well acquainted with his oxen, with a suitably construct- ed, sharp, cutting plough, whilst his competitor had a less skilful ploughman, or a badly made plough. The turning about of a 6-span, on account of the greater cir- cuit that must be made, requires much time ; and with 6 beasts, their stopping to urine must be double that in the case of two only. 13. If a man has a pair of good horses in ploughing, and the plough is well made, and conveniently arranged, he will plough, in a moderately tight soil, in 9 hours one yoke (== 1.422 acres), if the plough goes no deeper than 4 or 5 inches, and the furrow-slices are not made narrower than 10 or 11 inches, and the beds are 12 to 14-furrowed. If the soil is binding, he can only plough ^ of a yoke. 14. In like circumstances, one may plough in the same time with an equal number of oxen i to i less. If a person labors with a change of oxen, he might, as may be easily conceived, plough as much in a day, as with horses, indeed probably more ; since if he changes the ox-teams once in the day, he could labor more time with the two teams than if the same team were kept yoked up through the whole forenoon and afternoon ; and at least there are 10 hours in which one works with two teams. Since the same are more rested they are fresher and stronger. If the change is three times, then a man labors from 12 to 14 hours, and ploughs somewhat more than with one pair of horses. But that with a given number of oxen, one must plough more in a given time if he works them with changes of teams instead of one team and without change, we need not believe ; much more certain is it that a man ploughs more if he makes each team work 9 hours, than if he works them only 4 to 5 hours; though in this time he is somewhat fresher. The advantage of tlie change of oxen consists in the sparing of men and in the better condition of the working-oxen, on leaving off; since if the team is not changed the man labors at the plough together with the driver only 8 or 9 hours in the day ; whereas, with the change of team, the oxen are brought to them and both continue in the field from early dawn till nightfall, during which time the plough is constantly going. It eeems to me, therefore, that this saving may be over-balanced by the greater neces- sity of working-oxen, even if I alloWf that the beasts after the time of ploughing may 46 ECONOMY OF FARMING. look better than if they are not so changed The correctness of this position will be ehown most admirably by a comparison of the number of cattle for teams required in Brandenburg, where they change with three oxen at the plough three limes— with tliat of Thuringia where they labor with the same team all day. See Thaer's An- nals, Vol. IV. pp. 660. 1.5. If the field is already ploughed and has not yet become hard, or if a person makes furrows of only 3 to 4 inches depth, one might easily plough up more land in a day. The FrOhner in some parts of Austria and Hungary, are obliged to plough up with their poor horses 2000 square cords (klafters) ; the peasants in Prussia 1800 square cords in a day. How such furrows look may be easil}'- imagined. [As a square klafter is 1600th part of a yoke, 2000 square klafters are equal to some- what more than 1| acres, and 1800 klafters equal to 1} acres Enghsh. On p. 11, a klafter was computed at 4^ sq. yards ; it is however nearer 5 sq. yds. English. — Tr.J 16. The longer the field is, the more can be ploughed of an equal depth of furrow, because a man loses less time in turning about. The narrower the beds of the field are, the more can one plough up, because a greater space of the field between the furrows of the beginning of the field (Anfangs-furchen) is left unploughed, than if the beds are broad ; and a man can work over more land with a Hacken (another kind of plough), than with a common plough, because the furrows made by the Hacken are 12 — J 4 inches broad, and only a part of the land is turned over. If the field is 100° (klafters) long, then 16° breadth will give a yoke (1.422 acres). If the furrows be made 11 inches broad, and a person plough in a 24-lurrovv'ed bed, there will be 4.354 beds. Should a man plough the field wholly even v/ith with a Norisch, or hill-side plough, then 104 furrows would be necessary. But because here for each bed tvvo furrows are to be deducted, which lie as unploughed land in the centre of the bed ; so there would be needed to be made only 95.3 furrows. For every turning about on an average one minute at least must be allowed, partly lo make the circuit and partly to allow the beasts to urine, to right the plough, &c.. by which 95 minutes are lost. The day's work consists of 9 hours ; there remains therefore for forming the furrows 7^ hours, and since 95.3 furrows each 100 klafters (= about 600 feet) long, contain 9530 klafters, and 7h hours contain 25,800 sec- onds, therefore the beasts must proceed at the rate of a klafters length (about 6 feet) in 2.7 seconds. If a man plough in 4-furrowed beds, there are then on a breadth of 66 inches, only 4 furrows, i. e. -Jr of the plough-land is not ploughed, and from 104 furrows 34 : must be deducted ; there remains then to be ploughed only 69^ furrows ; i. e. 7133 klafters furrow-length, which with equal activity of the beasts a person can plough in 5 9 hours. If for the same space, 7 1 hours are taken; then the beasts should go about -^ sloAver and employ 3^ seconds on the length of a klafter (about 6 feet); or should \hey go as rapidly^ they Avould plough about -^ more, i. e. 2133 square klafters. [The fields under cultivation by the plough, &c., in Germany, are most generally divided into beds, and as they are successively ploughed up, what one year was the centre of the bed, the next year becomes the edge of one, while the edge of the pre- vious year becomes the centre of the next. It is evident, therefore, that in the centre of each new bed there will be two furrows' width, which will be covered over by the furrows turned on them from opposite si Lime " (aggregated hme and sand) 29 37.8 1^ Gypsum, of an earthy form . 27 27.4 5§ Carbonate of hme, in powdery form . 85 47.5 ^c^" " " magnesia " " 256 62.6 ££- J^ -^ Stratified clay 40 38.8 0 3° Loamy " 50 41.4 P g «• Pure gray " 70 48 3 '£> Humic acid . . . . 181 50.1 S 3 Loam soil 52 40.8 °? s " The humic acid has therefore the greatest power after magnesia ; still greater is this power in the peaty soil, since 100 parts by weight will take up 300 to 360 parts by weight of water in its pores, if it has been first artificially dried out." "By many experiments it has been ascertained, that most soils serving for the culti- vation of grain possess a power of taking water into their pores of 40 to 70 percent. If this power is much less or greater than these, the soil is more suitable for pines and such like trees, and for grass cultivation. " To judge of the value of a soil in this respect, Ave must regard the climate, the mean quantity of rain fallen, and the temperature ; as the same soil in one region may be fruitful, while in yet another, under different circumstances, it is not so. A clay soil, with great power of taking water into its pores (very porous), is desirable in a ho^ 9 66 ECONOMY OF FARMING. dry climate, while it is worth little in a cold, moist climate. A loose, sand-soi], is worth little ill a dry. hot climate, while it is more valuable in a moist one," &c. As to the power of the soil to retain moisture, he says, p. 291 : "Next to the power of a soil for takinof up water into its pores, the greatest importance for vegetation is, how long it will hold the moisture so taken up. Many soils soon lose the water by evaporaSon : others, on the contrary, very slowly. Sand, lime-stone, gravel, and slaty kinds of soils, dry up the quickest, and on that account form the so-called hot soils, while clay, which holds water long, is named a cold soil." Professor Schubler found, by many experiments on the power of soils to retain water, the following results : KINDS OF CARTH EASE OF DRYING UP. Of 100.0 parts of water absorbed, ]Of 100.0 parts of water absorbed, was evaporated at 15" Reaumur 90.0 parts evaporated at 15' Reau- = 67" Far. in 4 hours. Q,uartz sand . . . . Lime " . . . . Gypsum in earthy form Stratified clay Loamy " . . . . Pure gray " . Carbonate of Ume in a fine state " '• magnesia " " Humic acid Loamy soil .... 88.4 parts. 75.9 (( 7L7 (( 52.0 (( 45.7 c 31.9 u 28.0 (I 10.8 (C 20.5 (( 32.0 (( mur = 67° Far. in Hours. Min. 4 4 4 44 5 1 6 65 7 52 11 17 12 51 33 20 17 33 11 15 " On the drying up of the deep layers of the soil in a longer or shorter time, the dif- ferent looseness or consistency of the upper soil, has also an important influence ; the Jine clay, for example, at 2 inches thickness strata, has a moist surface long after the surface of the peaty soil at the same depth is dried up. The power of the soil to retain water in all depends on : 1, The quality of the sub- soil; 2, The quality of the upper soil ; 3. The degree of warmth by the sun ; 4, The atmospheric pressure, and the degree of the change of the atmosphere. The atmos- pheric pressure has great influence on the evaporation ; and on this account a soil dries up so much the more rapidly, by how much higher it lies, and the more it is struck by the wind, especially the east wind. " If a soil contains many salts which attract moisture from the air, this has great influence also on the evaporation, as these by night absorb again the water evaporated." Respecting the property of the earth to attract moisture from the atmosphere, he also observes, p. 294 : " Besides quartz-sand, all the earths which constitute the soil have the property, BO far as they are dried to a certain degree, more or less to attract moisture from the air, which is naturally of high importance for the growth of plants. In the strongest degree, generally, this affinity for moisture in the atmosphere shows itself in the clay soil, especially if it contains much humus ; since these bodies, of all the constituent parts of the soil, attract the most moisture from the air ; the kinds of humus indeed are somewhat differently proportioned ; the heath-humus, for example, be- cause it contains so much carbonized humus (or humic carbon) and resinous wax, attracts not so much moisture from the air as the mellow humus, which in a great measure consists of humates or salts of humic acid. "All earths attract more moisture by night than by day ; they also give back, through evaporation in the sun-light the moisture absorbed by night. " From the capacity of the soil to attract more or less moisture from the air, we might likewise form a conclusion as to the degree of its fertility, yet we can thereby come to no certain result, as a leaner clay soil absorbs more moisture than a richer loam soil. " In order to ascertain hov; much moisture one kind of soil will absorb from the air, we laid a certain quantity of finely pulverized and fully dried earth on a plate, which was put under a glass bell made water-tight and left it to lie there 12, 24, to 43 hours, in a moderate temperature (12° to 15" Reaumur, =59° to about 67° Far.) and then weighed it The addition of weight exhibits the quantity absorbed in watery vapor." 3 3 3 1 1 1 31 35 35 76 80 82 26 28 28 30 34 35 42 48 49 97 110 120 22 23 23 ECONOMY OF FARMING. 67 Here also we are reminded of Professor Schubler's numerous experiments of tliis kind. He found the following results : 100 parts in weight of dry earth spread on a pane beneath a glass bell, water-tight, absorbed in Kinds of earth. 12 hours, 24 hours, 48 hours, 72 hours, (iuiirtz-sand, 0 parts. 0 parts. 0 parts. 0 parts. Lime-sand, 2 Gypsum of earthy form. . . .1 Carbonate of hme, in the form of powder, 26 Carbonate of magnesia, in powder, 69 Potters' clay, 21 Loamy clay, 25 Pure gray clay, .... 37 Humic acid, 80 Plough-land, loam soil, ... 16 " As to gypsum, we see that it attracts scarcely no water from the air. But it is usu- ally believed that gypsum, employed as a manure, especially promotes vegetation, in that it attracts moisture from the air, which it transmits to plants. Thus, theories which are written down, often fall to nothing when tested by experiment." Speaking of the absorption of oxygen from the air, to which acid he attributes an important part in vegetation, he remarks, p. 296, that '' the working over of the soil has this benefit, that thereby new strata of the earth always come in connexion with the air, and thus absorii much oxygen, by which they are more and more fertilized. Other gases also, as carbonic acid, nitrogen, hydrogen, are absorbed." The decrease of the volume of different earths, by being dried. Professor Schubler found to be the following : 1000 cubic lines 1000 parts by weight Kinds of Earth. diminution of diminished there- volume in fore in its volume auartz sand, .... 0— C. L. 0— Potters' clay, . . , 940 " 60 Loamy clay, .... 911 " 89 Pure gray clay, ... 817 « 183 Humic acid, .... 800 " 200 Carbonate of lime, as powder, 950 '♦ 50 Plough-land loam soil, . . 880 " 120 From this table it is evident that the degree of the decrease of the volume of the earth stood in no direct proportion with its power of retaining water." " The property of some kinds of the soil, especially marl, by moisture and then by being dried again, to fall into small pieces and become crumbly, is sufficiently explained by the great difference of the decrease of their volumes, which the constituents of the soil undergo, as clay, lime, humus, &c. ; since, be the soil or marl ever so inti- mately mingled, yet their constituent parts always only lie near together. But the particular parts change by the shrinking together, in different proportions, of their volumes, which naturally produces their separation, and soon their decomposition." "According to Schubler's experiments (see Sprengel, p. 301) the following are the results as to the capacity of different earths to retain for a longer or shorter time the warmth they have received : Po Kinds of Earth. Limestone sand, .... duartz sand, Gypsum earth, .... Potters' clay, Loamy clay Pure gray clay, .... Ciirbonate of magnesia finely powdered, Carbonate of lime " " Humic acid, Plough-land loam soil, " Hence it appears that the sandy kinds possess tlie orreatest power of retaining warmth, if the earths are compared in equal quantities. Have the sandy soils reached verof retaining warmth, Length c if the time which 30 that of limestone sand cubic inches of earth need. being fixed at 100.0. at a te mperature of 13° R. = 62 Far. to cool from 50" = 145F tol7«R.=: 70 Far. 100.0 in 3 hours ,30 min. 95.6 3 u 20 u 73.8 2 (( 34 (( 76.9 2 u 41 u 71.8 2 a 30 c 66.7 2 u 19 (( 38.0 1 (C 20 C( 61.0 2 ({ 10 (C 49.0 1 (( 43 (C 70.1 2 u 27 (C 68 ECONOMY OF FARMING. a certain temperature, they retain it considerably longer than most other kinds of soil. The less amount of moisture which they retain is the ground wherefore they- grow cold so little. " Humus, next to carbonate of magnesia, has the least power of retaining warmth. A moist soil, rich in humus, gradually warms itself in the sun, because the evapora- ting water is chemically combined with much warmth. Dry soils, very rich in humus, waTm themselves on this account gradually; because, on account of their great porosity, they hold shut up much air, and are the poorest conductors of heat. From Schubler's experiments we obtain the following conclusion : the mote mass the earth possesses in the same volume, or the greater is its absolute weight, so much the greater generally is its retentive power for heat ; so that from the absolute weight of an earth we can judge with tolerable accuracy as to its greater or less power of retaining heat." — Tr.] 8. All plants draw humus from the soil in proportion to the length of time they remain in the same. Winter-wheat, therefore, for an equal quantity of product, requires more humus than barley, and oats more than buckwheat: vetches or tares suck in more humus when they are left to ripen than when they are mowed while green. That the peren- nial increase of the soil be not weakened, the dying portions of the plants must be left to be incorporated in the soil ; otherwise, the increase is arrested. If one, there- fore, takes away the fallen leaves, together with the fruit, from young groves, and applies it in the stalls as litter, the trees sicken, remain crippled, and grow but poorly. [Veit, in treating of the exhaustion of the power of the soil according to the properties of plants, considers the subject in reference to the nourishing mass of their products ; the thicker or thinner state of the fruit ; the quality of the leaves and stalks ; the quality of their roots ; the amount of the organic mass remaining in the soil after the harvest ; the duration of vegetation, and the degree of the ripeness of the fruits. He remarks ; " the greater the nourishing mass of a plant, so much the greater, other things being equal, is its need of nourishment. ' The exhausting power of different grains, according to their volume,' Thaer says, ' are in the following pro- portion : wheat 13, rye 10, barley 7, oats 5.' The longer a plant takes from the soil, from the time of the sowing the seed till the time of its ripening, so much the more nourishment will it draw to itself, other things being equal. Thus the winter- fruits consume more power of the soil than the summer-fruits of the same species. On the other hand, the exhaustion of powers is so much die smaller, the shorter the period of the vegetation of a plant is, unless other properties produce an exception. The period of the vegetation of different plants cultivated on the farm vary : " For buckwheat, summer rape, small maize, flax and white turnips. 12 to 15 weeks. " For summer-rye, early-ripe oats, spring barley, millet and hemp, from 16 to 17 weeks. " For summer-wheat, late-ripe oats, larger barley, lentils, transplanted beets, maize, early-ripe turnips, about 18 weeks. " For potatoes, artichokes, late-ripe turnips, beets, &c., 22 to 24 weeks. " Winter rape-seed vegetables in the autumn of the seed-year, at least 10 weeks, and in the following year of its fruit about 18 weeks ; together, therefore, 28 weeks. " Winter barley, winter speltz, winter wheat and winter rye, ripen indeed 3 weeks later than winter rape, but they are also sowed as much later, and have, therefore, with themselves an equally long period of vegetation." — Tr.] 9. The greater the organic product which plants produce is, the greater also is the weight of the humus which they employ for this purpose. Rich harvests require rich manure. If a person wishes always to raise on the same soil, hemp, maize, or head-cabbage, in equal quantity, it must every year be richly manured. If he omits to do this, the product of^ the second year is very considerably less ; a proof that the great production of the first year has appropriated the greatest part of the humus, and that the small quantity of the same soluble in the second year, IS no longer sufficient for as great production. 10. Plants that are taken from the fields earlier than their grain or fruit is developed, as well in an absolute as in a relative respect, need less humus than those which not only produce leaves and stalks, but also flowers and fruit. ECONOMY OF FARMING. 69 If some suppose that plants for the production of leaves and stalks need only air and water, they may convince themselves of the contrary in gardens and fields if they will observe salad, cabbage and other leguminous plants, that are planted partly in manured and partly in exhausted beds. The consumption of manure of green plants artd those lipe tor gathering is very different, as we observe by the dillerent power which the fields exert in case half of the field — when the whole is sown with vetches, rye, or any other plants — is mowed green and the other half suffered to ripen. The cause of this appearance lies in part in the longer time which the plants of the last half remain in the field, of which we have already spoken (8) ; in part it must be ascribed to the different necessity of organic nutriment which the plants need for tlie formation of their different parts ; and if they require less humus for the formation of leaves and stalks, yet more is necessary for the formation of the grain ; thereJbre, if we see in poor, yet not wholly exhausted fields, in favorable weather, that the crops are often as large as in stronger fields, this shows the dependence on the humus for the formation of the grains, which under such circumstances are less numerous and smaller in size. Peas in poor fields grow in moister and warmer weather, always showy enough indeed, as to stalks and leaves, but the pods remain mostly empty. Finally, the greater exhaustion of the soil by the production of grain, especially ot the griiss kind of plants, must be sought herein that the leaves begin to dry up as soon as the blossoming is over, and are unfitted for the absorption of air and vaporous nutriment when the grain is formed, which in a great degree must be produced by the nourishment mounting from the roots through the stalk. 1 1. Plants do not require for that which they have produced from the 6eld, and which has been taken away from thence, an equal addition of manure ; because they possess the power to appropriate organic matter in unequal degree, and the quantity of organic remains which they leave in the fields, as decaying leaves and roots, is very different. 12. The pod-bearing vegetables need generally less manure than the plants of a grass kind ; for, in a given soil, and in a given time, they pro- duce more organic matter than do the latter ; because they absorb a greater quantity of atmospheric and mineral substances. We have already proved the correctness of this opinion in the Special Culture of Plants § III. B. p. 76), and refer to those remarks. [The observations to which our Author here refers are the following: "Plants can take so njuch the more moisture from the air as the surfece of their leaves collectively is greater, or as they have more absorbing vessels, or hair upon their surface. They dry less easily the thicker their leaves are. and the moisture shut up between them is more slimy or viscous ; and if the plants are connected with many thick or strongly- haired leaves and roots pressing deep into the soil, they all of them must mostly draw a great part of their nourishment from the air, and also resist dryness. "The pod-boaring plants have these properties in a higher degree in tliemselves than the grasses. Those with a small root vetches, peas lentils and beans, form them- selves very perfectly, therefore, in a moist climate and an easy soil, with litde manure ; but in a dry climate their roots must be protected by a close soil before drying up, or by a greater quantity of nutriment in the soil, obtain more physical power. Those with deep, penetrating roots, clover, sainfoin, luzerne, endure in the same circum- stances a warmer climate, and greater dryness than if the soil is more clayey and the plants older and the roots penetrate deeper into the soil. The extraordinary great organic production of this last plant cannot possibly be ascribed only to the humus existing in the soil ; since, were it possible that the same field, if it were sown with grain, should produce in a course of 4 years some 150 cwt. of grain and straw, iC it bears luzerne. it produces more than double, often three times this weight in dry leaves and stalks: and how can we explain the luxuriant growth of the white horse- bean, I lip! n IIS alhus, in a poor and light soil, unless we suppose that these plants, by means of tht ir inany large, thick and heavy leaves, suck a great part of their nourisliment from the air, and that their long tapering (pfahlformig) roots, running into the soil, with small horizontal sucker roots, appear to be designed more to suck in water in the depth of the soil, and to protect the plants before drying up, than to suy)^"'ly them with nourishment? "Tiic culture of the pod-bearing plants, therefore, exhausts the soil less; and because 70 ECONOMY OF FARMING. they leave behind in the soil much organic matter — in their leaves falling off at the season of fruit — and frequently quite large roots ; and further, their thick condition sets the field fully in the shade, and hinders the coming up of weeds and the useless evaporation of the humus— therefore the following fruit of that time succeeds better than after grass-kind of grain or knob and root-plants." — Tr.] 13. A field, then, requires for the production of all kinds of fruits in a course of years, so much the less manure, according to the frequency with which pod-bearing plants, with thick roots, are cultivated with culmiferous fruits. The culture of clover, luzerne and sainfoin, is therefore of the greatest conse- quence, because they not only produce a very great proportionate quantity of fodder, but also abstract but little humus from the soil, and by their remaining roots and leaves decaying, they leave in the soil a great amount of organic matter which must likewise be reckoned as entire manure with stall-manure. 14. Because the herbaceous plants generally yield a larger organic pro- duct than the weight of the humus which they absorb from the soil during their growth : hence it is possible to keep the field in the same state of fruitfulness if we do not bring back again a part of the product on the same. If plants lived only on organic matter, then must we, for that which we produce from the fields and have not returned in manure, add vegetables grown elsewhere to the same matter, whereby a gradual disappearance of vegetation would be effected. 15. The products of our fields are taken away from the same, either in whole or part. 16. Those products are wholly taken away which yield no manure on the farm ; those in part from those fields to which is restored more or less again in manure on the same. The grain-kernels, plants for commerce, &-c., which we sell from the farm, are wholly taken from the field. But the grain that we consume on the farm itself, and the plants for fodder, with which we support our beasts, are only so far taken from the fields as a part of it is changed into animal substance, during the processes of digestion, or is dissipated by means of the putrid fermentation. 17. To keep the fields in the same state of fertility, there must be so much manure restored that the mass of the humus may remain the same in a course of years. 18. But in order to return to the fields a quantity of manure propor- tioned to their needs, it is necessary to know in what proportion the plants need humus ; or much more how the quantity of the produ3t Is proportioned to the consumption of the manuring substance in the soil ; and how much they lose in substance consumed out of the field as fodder, and by putre- faction. 19. What we take away from the fields in any veg3table products, must be restored again with other organic products, in the same degree as we have taken away more r'lan the increase which the plants have appropri- ated to themselves in inorganic matter. 20. But because plants are of different natures, and the power to con- vert inorganic matter into organic is not the same with all ; and because the same plai't^ in different periods of their growth herein vary, therefore the amount which must be restored for that which is taken, is not always alike. ECONOMY OF FARMING. ' 71 21. Meadows which are artificially watered, or are frequently overflowed^ need for their product no additional manure, because they are kept up by the slime which is contained in the water. But if they are neither watered nor overflowed, then must a part of their product be restored to them if their productiveness is to be kept uniform. If on dry meadows which from no quarter possess a remarkable supply of manur- ing substances, one obtains a yearly crop, though often a small one ; yet we need not hence beUeve tint the growing plants hve only on air and water, and from these two sources only can produce organic production ; they derive nourishment from overflows, to wliich many years they have been exposed, from the droppings of beasts, which in the autumn, and frequently in the spring, pasture on them ; and from the bodies of insects and worms which die and are decomposed within reach of their roots. Were it possible to shut off from the meadows these sources of nourishment, then could they yield such an amount of organic products only when it was not taken from them, and the leaves falling off rotted on the soil. To make hay on such meadows, and take it away, would be to destroy the proportion between the quantity of the organic product obtained from air and water, and that which is not returned again to the same soil, and is elsewhere employed as hay ; the consequence of which would be, that in a few years all the plants would pine away, and the meadow would become scarcely better than a lean pasture. Whoever manures not his dry meadows, must content himself with their inconstant but always small product ; but whoever wishes to obtain a more steady, and alwayt> a greater product, must take back to them, from time to time, manuring substances; and the greater and more efficacious the quantity of the same is, the richer also w4!l the product be which they will yield, as the manured mountain-meadows show. 22. The pod-bearing plants, perennials, derive only half of their dry products from the humus ; the other they owe to the inorganic matter, and since the mass of the roots of clover, of luzerne, and sainfoin, increase yearly about one fourth part of the product of their leaves ; hence is clear, the great importance which these plants hold in agriculture, as they yield so great products, and reduce the soil so little. This opinion is by no means arbitrary, since a well-sown field of luzerne, in a warm climate, yields in a course of five years, twice as much in dry fodder, as has been in- troduced of earlier dried substance by means of manure. Suppose there has been carried on to it in the time of sowing. 300 cwt. of stall-manure which consists of 150 cwt. of hay and straw, for I yoke CI. 422 acres), and later twice, each time, 5 cwt of gypsum hns been used; that the harvest has been in 5 years 294 cwt. of hay; in the first year 34 ; in the four following, always 65 cwt. If now we plough up sach a field of luzerne, and all the seeds cast in grow as luxuriantly from the decaying great roots as if they were freshly manured, there could be no doubt as to the correct- ness of this conclusion. Because the clover usually remains in the soil only two years, its roots are not as important as those of luzerne, but they are always sufficient to affect one quarter of the usual manuring substances from the stall. If the field of clover is thick set, and the growth of the plants has been fiivored by the weather, then the fre?h roots of clover on an average of many experiments bear 140 cwt., and their effect cannot be less than half as great a weight of manure would be. Where the clover is thinner and low, the crop which follows it is then so much the worse. The causes why fruits following clover so distinguish themselves with respect to their growth and product, must in a slight degree be ascribed to the leaves which have fallen off but in a crreat measure to the roots remaining in the soil. The experi- ments Avhich Prof. KOrte tried on this subject in 1835, show, that on an extent of a Vienna yoke ( 1.422 acres), in a part of a clover field where gypsum was used, 366, and on apart where it was not used. 270 cwt. of fresh roots were contained ; in the ex- periments which I tried in August 1837, one yoke of moderately stocked clover gave only 1 17 cwt. of roots, and a friend of mine found in the same month, per yoke, 87, 124, and 296 cwt, according as the clover was more or less thickly set. How KoRTE could obtain from clover which was sowed in the year 1834 with barley, in June of the following year so great a mass of roots, I must leave to be determined j but even in the case where only 140 cwt of roots per yoke continue ia 72 ECONOMY OF FARMING. the earth, yet this wouli he equal to the third part ofmanuring it with stall-manure ; and probably yet higher, since the wheat, alter a thick grown crop of clover, bears a greater product than if a similar field, but badly stocked with clover, was manured with 100 cvvt. of stall-manure. That all the clover roots may benefit the following crop, the field mast be ploughed up deep with a well-set cutting-plough, because otherwise the harrow tears up or merely exposes too many roots. 23. The annual pod-bearing plants with small roots, if they are mowed before the formation of the kernels, must be considered equal to the peren- nials in respect to their need of humus ; but the roots which they leave in the soil are too insignificant to be regarded. I see no sufficient reason why vetches and peas, if they should be mowed for fodder, and only occupy the soil for a short time, should draw away to themselves more humus than clover and luzerne. That vetches only slightly take away from the soil, and that grain, which follows after vetches that have been manured and mowed while green, is only a little inferior to that which is fresh manured, is universal expe- rience. But the roots of peas and vetches are so small that they scarcely deserve mention in the estimate of manure ; the roots of lentils and beans must be more regarded. 24. If the pod-bearing plants produce ripe grains, they need for the for- mation of the same more manure; and we must bring the whole product of the kernels into the estimate of manure. Every one knows that those fields which have borne ripe vetches, compared with others where they were mowed in a green state, show themselves more enfeebled in proportion. 25. Should the grain plants of the grass-kind be cut before the kernelling, then we must ascribe the formation of f of the whole product to the humus, and only f to the unorganized matter. I allow that these statements of particular proportions appear arbitrary, because they are grounded on no definite experience, but are only drawn from the estimate of the quantity of manure for the production of rtie bodies of the plants. But if we take for granted that plants usually appropriate inorganic matter, and that the grass- xind of plants can do this in a less degree than the pod-bearing ones, so only can the relative amount of the necessity of organic and inorganic matter in these two classes of plants be a matter of doubt. We have reckoned of the pod-bearing plants, should they be cut green, only one half of their product to the humus; and if we here bring f- of the same into the account, yet we hold them not to be too much lessened and the more so since these suppositions are placed in correct proportions in the following paragraphs. 26. If the grass-kind of grain-plants are cut in a ripe state, their whole product in kernels and straw, must likewise be set down for the diminution of the humus in the soil. The leaves drying up in a great degree are the special cause that the whole plant is henceforth nourished only by the roots. The greater absorption of humus by the roots, and its large evaporation from the soil which is less shadowed, than with the husk-bearing plants or vegetables, are the principal causes why the soil is so much exhausted by the culture of the grass-kind of plants. So, that there is always a surplus of product to be taken into the account compared with the quantity of humus employed, which at a close estimate probably exceeds 10 percent., cannot be doubted ; but I have purposely overlooked it, because on the other side I have not brought into the estimate the loss wliich the manuring substances undergo, partly in the bodies of beasts which are fed upon them, partly during the processes of fermentation. [ Veit observes: "The grain fruits with their roots run through the whole upper strata, and appropriate to themselves all the store of dissolved humus there existing. After the time of kernelling. the leaves dry up; therefore the atmosphere operates on the uncovered soil, draws out its moisture, forms a crust, enlivens the weeds, and ripens them."; On the exhausting power of the different grains, Thaer remarks, that "according ECONOMY OF FARMING. 73 to the analysis ofEiNHOFF, they rank in the possession of nutritions matter, as follows : Wheat 78 per cent. ; rye, 70 ; barley 63 to 70 per cent ; oais. 58 per cent. : and con- sequently the exhausting powers of these grains are, wlieat, 13; rye, 10; barley, 7; oats, 5 " In the British Husbandry, Vol. II., p. 92 it is said, in view of the above analysis, that a bushel of wlieat, weiglung 59 lbs., w^ould absorb about 46 lbs. of nutritive matter. '• " rye •' 55 " '• " " 38^ " '• " " " barley " 46 " " " " 30 i " " " « u oats " 31: " " " " 20 '• " " 27. The root-vegetables draw from the soil, in proportion to the time which they remain in it, J- to ^ of their weight in humus. Turnips on stubble ground which remain in the soil only three months, require sure- ly not more hutnus than the half of the dry product which they have produced in this time ; whilst to carrots, cabbage-turnips, beets, we must allow at least f , since they grow hard longer in the soil. The difference of the product of the succeeding crops will determine for us this question. 28. Potatoes weaken the soil most of all the root-vegetables, because they must be hoed and hilled ; because they ripen in the soil ; and because their leaves lose the power of absorption before the knobs are formed out. It seems to me that we must allow ^ of their dry weight to the estimate of manure, if we would not enfeeble the fields by them. If the summer grains, especially barley, always agree so well after potatoes, as every one sees this is no proof against us ; since, by the culture of potatoes, the old humus, as well as the newly introduced ma- nure, are brought into a very decomposed state ; and the stock remaining in the soil after potatoes, is always large enough to pro, luce a rich harvest of barle)'-. If 250 cwt of potatoes are gathered for a yoke ( 1.422 acres), this gives 62 cwt. of dry sub- stance with the stalk; ^ of this is 46.50 cwt. ; and if for 10 cwt. of dry stalk, f be ascribed to the humus, = 6.66, this makes the whole consumption of organic matter to be 53.16 cwt But since we have brought to this fruit, with 300 cwt of manure, 150 cwt of organic matter in the soil, there remains of it in the field ^', unless we suppose that by means of hoeing and hilling, a greater escape of the humus takes place than what is allowed in the above estimate, which is not perceptible in the first, but especially in the second and third fruits following the potatoes. 29. The oil-plants, and the plants which are to be spun, if they are suffer- ed to ripen, must be computed like the ripened culmiferous grains. If they are taken away from the field in a green state, we need only reckon f of their product in dry materials. There is no sufficient ground for the conclusion that the oil-plants, and those used for spinning, are as absorbinor as the culmiferous grains; much more is it true, that the latter appropriates to itself more humus than the former plants. The small, low rape and flax plants, which remiin in the soil a shorter time, need not proportionally more for their production, than wheat and rye ; and if the flax and hemp are not left to ripen, certainly less. The notion of some that these plants especially exhaust the soil, rests on the observation that many farms which can yield no sufficient addition for thnt which is wholly taken away from the soil by the oil-plants, and such as are used for spinning, must for a while Iinve their fields withdrawn, as wholly enfeebled, from this culture. But it is clear t!i il iicre the indirect effect is confounded with the immediate one. [By the oil-plants, are meant the winter and summer rape-seed, the poppy and dotter. By the spinning-plants, flax and hemp. Some particulars n^lating to the plants mentioned in some of the preceding para- graphs may be suitably introduced in this place. The following estimates from Burger and Schwertz and from the British Hus- bandry, show the average amount of seed needed, and the average product of the difieront plants. The averagres are of many experiments, made in different countries, with various soils, clim?ites. an 1 modes of culture. Schwertz uses the French meas- ures. It has been necessary to abbreviate in some cases. 10 74 ECONOMY OF FARMING. ACCOHDING TO BURGER A.ND SCHWERTZ. BRITISH HUSB.\NDKY. id Seed required. Product. c te Names £2 si si of the Fruits. &2 01 1 g 1 1 c 1 CO 1 Hectoli- trps. Bushels. Hectoli- tres. Bushels Bushels. Bushels. Wheat, 100:40.6 2.25 * 2h 22 25 sir. 3977 kdogrs. =3.506 lbs. bM cast 21-31 drilled 2-21 dibhl'dS— 7p'ks 28 Rye, 100:41.5 1.80 2 22} 25 sir. 3tI8 kilog. =3023 lbs. early sown later 3 25 Barley, winter, 100 : 50.7 2.5 2.71 38 34 str. 2327 kdog. =2046 lbs. rich .soil 10 p'ks adhesivp 12 " light 14— 16 " 32—40 " summer, 3 2.8 28J 311 Oats, 100:61.5 4 4.5 37 40 str. 4218 kilog. =3702 lbs. 4—7 32 Millet, 31 litres 7 qts. 26 28 str. 3997 kilog. =3520 lbs. Beans, — l.Shect. 1.16 small 31—4 34 Horsp beans in rows bushels. 24 28 .Irilled 3 Broad cast. 3.5 3.8 str. 2766 kilog. =2433 lbs. dibbled 2 Peas, ~ 2—3 2.2—3.3 24 26 str. 3000 kilog. =2640 lbs. broad cast 3 drilled depends on distance 30—40 Buckwheat, 1 1.1 25 27 as 2d crop 121 13 J soiling 2 for corn 5 — 6 [pecks 26 Vetches, — 11-2 1.6—2.2 15 16 21 20 hay 6 tons Lentls, — 2 2.2 16 17 broad cast li — Turnips, ~ 2i kilog. 21 lbs. ~ drilled 1— 2 pt.«. Itroad cast 11—2 Swedish 30 tons, white glob 35 do. Rape ~ 10 or 12 lbs. per yoke. 7— 9 lbs. 24—30 16—20 metzen l>er yoke. 4 lbs. ~ Beets, " "~" ~ :i00— 400 250—300 Wt. p^T v'k st'lkl06cwt=80cwt " ~ Cabbages, — — — — — } lb. for plants foi an acre. — Carrots, — 6 lbs. per yoke. 5 lbs. 300 met z. p.ryoke = 360 4—41 or 5 lbs. 400 bushels. Clover grass. 16 kilo- grams. 14 lbs. 10—14 lbs. on light .soils 12.16 — 18 with wheat or oats on clay Sainfoin, — 4— 6mpt- zen per yokp. ah. 41—7 bushels. — — broad cast 4 ind a lilile tre- foil. — Luzerne, — 34 kilog. per hpcr. 28 lbs. — — b'd c .St 25 lbs. Inll d, 15 " _ Flax, "~~ 2—3 tnft. per yokp. 2—3 bushe.s. 8— lOmPt.S— lOb'sh. per yoke, per acre. 2—3 bushels 10 bush, seed Hemp, — 2i-3 per yoke. 21-3 600—800 500—660 Iteryuke. [Uis. 3 ^00— 600 U)s. )iilkd befTO ;, . 1 of ha" "*■■ Names -3 5-^ OI and k 1, roo nobs. ands talks «<3 " 0) ■3. d 41 . .2 1_ ^ of the Fruits. -r * X rC li 5 4.' li 5 ,. 4l ^1 ±1 n ll' t M 73 H ^1 .£4 *i l^- 4, to r s II miz. i.'sh. .SChf. b'sh. cwt. cwt. cwt. cwt. lbs. lbs. cwt. cwt. Winter wheat, 1.8 2.6 3 221 18 21.6 300 50 75 90 1000 • «P^'-.Kp"eUz. 4.5 5.5 7 52i 3 3.6 18 21.6 ( 300 \ 170 50 28 75 90 377 20 2.9 3 221 20 24 200 33,1-3 70 84 700 " barley, 1.8 2.6 4 30 18 21.6 260 43 70 84 590 Summer wheat, 2.0 2.9 2 15 4 4.8 15 18 290 48,2-5 50 60 878 " »P''-.i:;Sx. 4.7 5.7 6 45 4 4.8 16 19.2 ( 290 \ 160 48,2-5 26,2-3 50 60 333 " r}-p, 2.2 3.1 2 15 4 4.8 17 20 6 270 44,3-5 40 48 642 " barley 2.0 2.9 3 22 2 2.4 12 14.4 250 41,2-5 40 43 565 '« oats 30 4.3 4 30 14 16.8 180 30 35 42 360 Maize, 0.5 0.72 6 45 .30 36 260 43 88 110 722 Millet, 0.3 0.43 2 15 4 4.8 20 24 270 44,3-5 1 70 84 750 Peas, 1.7 2.4 2 15 4 4.8 18 21.6 300 50 \ .30 36 909 Vetches, 1.7 2.4 2 15 3 3.6 16 19.2 310 51,3-5 ' 30 36 857 i--"- &,. 1.7 2.0 2.4 2.9 2 3 15 22 10 14 12 16.8 310 290 51,3-5 48.2-5 30 36 939 725 Horse lieans. 1.5 2.17 4 30 20 24 290 48.2-5 75 90 725 Sow h ans, 1.5 2.17 4 30 20 24 280 46,2-3 75 90 600 Fa.se()le, 1.2 1.75 2 15 4 4.8 6 7.2 300 50 30 36 90D Buckwheat, 1.7 2.4 2 15 4 4.8 12 14.4 230 38,1-3 30 36 4G0 Mixl'ire of oats, vetches and lieans. 2.0 2.9 4 30 18 21.6 240 40 35 42 Siiinfoin, for 5 years, 0.6 0.75 33 39.6 7 " 0.6 0.75 30 36 Potatoes, 3.0 4.3 40 300 8-10 9-12 300 50 80 96 150 Artichokes, 3.0 4.3 32 240 35 42 300 50 80 96 130 Flax, 2.5 3 62 250 .300 10 12 270 44,35 80 96 Hemp, 3.0 4.3 350 120 15 18 200 33,1-3 80 96 Safflower, 0.4 0.5 80 96 Red clover, to use the year lbs. lbs. lbs. it is sown, 10 12 20 24 Po. for 3 cuttings, 10 12 50 60 Do. for 2 yrs. .successive, 5 6 35 42 Luzerne, for 5 years, 3 3.6 50 60 8 •' 2 2.4 45 54 Beets, 1 1.2 180 216 45 54 80 96 91 Cabbage turnips, 0.2 0.24 180 216 35 42 80 96 93 White turnips, fallow. 15 1.8 200 240 45 54 80 96 90 " as stubble. 1.5 1.8 80 96 20 24 30 36 60 Carrots, 2.0 2.4 175 210 35 42 80 96 103 Leaf cabbage, 0.2 0.4 350 420 80 96 Winter rape. 8 96 3 22 20 24 260 43 80 96 Summer Ciibbage rape, 8 9.6 21 19.6 16 19.2 250 41,2-5 80 96 " turnip " 8 9.6 2i 17.:} 14 16.8 245 40.5-6 80 96 Poppy, 4 4.8 2h 18.5 18 21.6 230 38,1-3 80 96 Mustard, 8 9.6 V| 19.6 16 19.2 260 43 PO 96 Gob) of pleasure, 5 6.0 2h IM.5 14 16.8 250 41,2-5 70 84 Sunflower, 6 7.2 2 15 30 36 225 44 80 96 Mad.ler, 10 12 100 120 Teasel, 0.2 0 24 90 108 76 ECONOMY OF FARMING. Veit, also, Vol. II, p. 70, gives the quantity of clover-seed for a morgen, (f acre,) 5 follows : On first rate clover soil. permorg.jper acre On good clover soil. permorg. per acrf On soil poorer for clover. i>ermorg. per acre. Broadcast, .... "With the clover-seed roller, . Wiih a tiirrii[i-si)v\ iiitr machine, . lbs. 10.8 7.8 lbs. 10 lbs. 12 7.2 lbs. I llis. 12 I 14.4 9 I 10.8 The increase of the power of the soil of the clover above the consumption of this power, he gives in Vol. II. p. 81, as the following: OiJ first rate clover soil. perrnorg. per acre After seed, or the first year of vegetation, ATter tiie 2 I year " Ater tlie 3d and 4tli years " CVNt. 20 50 70 cvvt. 24 60 84 On good clover soil. perrnorg. er acre cv\t. 15 40 60 cwt. 18 48 72 On poor- r clover .soil. perrnorg. per acre. cwt, 10 30 CMt. 12 36 For luzerne, standing from 4 to 6 years, for the whole time, the proportion ol in- ease on the same conditions, stands thus : See Vol. II. p. 90. cvvt. 120 cwt. 144 cvvt. 100 cwt. 120 cwt. FO cwt. CR For sainfoin, during the same time, and on like conditions : See Vol. II. p. 96. CWi. I cwl. 100 ' ]9.0 Cv\t. 80 cwt. 96 cwi. cwt. 72 Of artichokes, he gives, Vol. II. p. 142, as the result of experiments at Schleisheim, from 1824 to 1827, on a morgen, the following product : a ) On a strongly nr.nnured field, b.) For .second manuring, c.) " third " d.) The 3d v'r on a broken-np pasture, after 2d. withont mannre In knobs. per more, per acre srhaffel, 38 28 21 13 bushels. 240 165.6 138.6 80.«) In st'lks and leave* )er morg. per acre. cwt. 42 31 22 18 cwt. 50.2 37:i 26.4 • 1 6 " Considering the weight of a schaflel at 3 cwt , and the proportion of knobs to hay as 2.5 : 1, the product of materials of manure is, according to, a.) 3S X 3 45 4- 42 = 87, and so the manure, for a morgen, 174 cwt. b.) 2..5 28 X 3 c) 2.5 21 X 3 d.) 2.5 13 X 3 = 33+31 =64, 25 + 22 = 47, = 15 -HIS =33, 128 94 66 2.5 Hence artichokes, for fodder and manure, enual lasting clovers, which stand highest, and on a good clover soil, surpass them. For where is there a plant which, on an exhausted, dry. light, and chalky soil, will give 15 cwt, of hay value, and 18 cvvt. of straw, and thus 66 cwt, of manure on a morgen. Even if 90 cwt. per morgen be charged to the strongly manured artichoke, there is yet 84 cwt. per morgen, not much less than of the durable kinds of clover." / ECONOMY OF FARMING. 77 \\ eight of turnips' at an averajie of Rowsdistitnt from Turnips in rows — from each other. No. of turnips. No. of turnips. 1 11). each. 2 lbs. each. | 3 lbs. each each other. i^/rnrr. p'r acr. p'rm'r. p'r acr. p'r m'r. p'r acr. f et. 2 2 inches. 9 feet. 2 1 1 inches. 9 [) rmorg. 10,000 13,000 20,000 (ler acre 12,000 15,600 24,000 cwr. 1(10 IJO 200 cwt. 120 156 240 cwt. 200 2(i0 400 cwt. 240 212 480 cwt. 300 390 r,oo cwt. 3fi0 4f>8 720 ►- p P 00 ;~1 p Cn :^ .w 63 ^ c- p ?■ p C O c o o 02 c ^ o a H 73 s 3 :s " <* 3 7 i 1" a: 1^ c 2, c o c 5 O ;< T3 1 o « VI n c 3 "5 r -1 5. -5' 1 1 • • = » = •^ 1 : • • • • • • • • • • • • o -} OJ «5 to ?* F IIO *^ £>r rf^ o 4^ 63 00 o o o 00 >^ (J> cn < r. S « i" -J s § 3 m 63 § s a 4k 00 s CO 4k. F VTieP no 5- a.? - 5^ a CO rfk. 63 C/» 50 cn 63 CO s 4k. a •no 1 bushel of seed gives in ^« ^^ CO CO 63 63 63 63 63 63 60 63 63 to ^ 9^ 00 C» O ^ i;^ Ol 4>- F '9J[V.O ]!0 C — ' ^^ ^s 60 63 CO >(k. 63 CO CO CO CO CO •no o> o o OS o o 00 CO 05 OS ^ ^ fi 5J 5 2 2 a § s s cn s F •a^lBo no - nt- ^ - 63 63 63 63 63 ^ CO CO 63 ^ ^ 3^ 7< -I •3JnsB8ui .Cq paag ^_ ^_ „.. __ ^. 63 <>0 - -^ P ^ 00 o> Cn 00 c;» CZ) in 63 63 P sr is rd CO ^4 63 ^3 Oi •«k o o> S _j ^ Cn §■3 -i tn O" '-' CO Of tri o O (J. Oi CO Cn lUStatt Xq poag ^ &j 63 CO -1 05 Cn -1 -1 -J «c CO o> il g § O ^ ^ 63 s ^ Oi s ^ O £■ O ^ . o> • > < 73 ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ §■5 to Oi o o 00 OD O >^ >f>. a> o o 00 •MBJlg > 0 ^d ^_ K.. >_ 63 63 CO b> ,_ __ 60 63 ^^ _ V _ o a> 4k 4k. 63 J ? ^ :? OS OJ 00 00 63 O •9 .M h- K- f^ H- 63 H~ 63 63 i1 ^ s o 63 ^ § g ^ g O J3 ^ 63 F no 0 c a 0 63 ^ 63 63 63 63 63 CO 63 »j ^ & 63 o> >^ 6.1 05 O •f^ 63 O tn 4k. .> 00 63 >«>■ 4k o 4k V. 1 1— i to _ ^^ ^ CO ^ 1^ CO CO j^ 4k CO - o 4k Cn r— o 63 00 Cn <^ 63 4k o C^ .« •d^p.o no ^ 65 63 rfk. CO -J •tk. >t^ 4k. Cl Oi 9: s O a 00 g 2 g s s ^ o g ^ M rf^ ifk O >«.. OS 4k. 00 i^ 63 CO s v^ .^ Oi o o ^ Cn Ci W a> o o> CO o o o CO GC =• 5 •3T^PD pO aqi JO 3n|BA Xkjj 4k. CO CO g CO 5 § 2 CO 6 g § s §g § § r? 1-^ 60 OJ 63 63 63 o> 63 63 63 o> 78 ECONOMY OF FARMING. In this connexion, it may be well to add the result of experiments on the different kinds of oil here mentioned, and some others, which Veit gives. Vol. l.,p. 231. The trial in each case, was with 4 loths (or 2 oz.). 14 hours. 13 ^' lU " 11 « 10 « 9i « 9^ " 9 " 9 « 8 « 10^ « Various experiments have been tried to determine the proper depth at which seeds «hould be planted. The following result is given by Burger, Vol. I., p. 286, with respect to maize or Indian corn : That which was planted at the depth of No. rhe oil of poppy burnt u " sunflower " rape a (( " mustard " (( u » flaxseed " « u " gold of pleasure (Leindotter) " (C u •' olives " (( (( " walnuts " (C (( « beech-nuts " (( li " hemp-seed " u (1 « tJillow " 1. 1 inch, came up in 8^ days. 2. H ti (( H 3. 2 ii a 10 4. n «( u lU 5. 3 u li 12 6. 3^ i« li 13 7. 4 <( (( 13^ 8. ^ « « 9. 5 (( (( — 10. H u (I 17J 11. 6 (( u "The Nos. 8, 9, 11,' were dug up after 22 days, and it was found that No. 8 had an inch more to grow to reach the surface of the earth. Nos. 9 and 11 had just sprouted, but were short, and were three inches below the surface. No. 10 came up in 17^ days, but the tender leaf remained only 6 days green, and then withered. There is no experiment which shows more clearly the advantage of a shallow planting in a soil not too loose, and trodden down, than this. The more shallow the seed was covered by the earth, the more rapidly the sprout made its appearance, and the stronger afterwards was tlie stalk. The deeper the seed lay, the longer it remained before it came to the surface. Four inches was too deep for the maize, and must there- fore be for yet smaller grain kernels. It, indeed, came up at that depth, but in the experiment made in the hot time of the year, in June, on the 15th day after it was planted ; in the colder season of Spring it would have been 18 or 20 days. If the germ-leaves of the seed lie too long under ground, they begin to get twisted, and will be bleached and die. as in No. 10. or form weak plants, as in Nos. 7 and 11. " Petri gives an experiment, made with respect to rye in Oct. 1817, with the follow- ing results : Depth of Seed. Appeared ahovc ground in No. of Plants that came upu 11 days, ^' all i i i "The root-stalk forms itself always next below the surface of the ground, and if we place the grain deep it must first put out it^ sprouts to the surface, and form its side- branches in a nearer connexion with the air. We never find that the sucker-roots are ranged from below to above, but the contrary. "As a proof the correctness of this opinion, I will here give the interesting experi- ment of Ugazy in Andre, Okon. Neuicrkeiten (Economical Novelties), July, 1817. He tried 76, between the 5th and 15th of June, 1817. on good soil, where the seed was well ploughed in, with different grains, to ascertain how deep the root-stalk stood in the earth, and what influence the different depths would have on the formation of the Btalk. The results are exhibited in the following table : 4 inch, 11 1 « 12 2 inches, 13 3 « 20 4 « 21 5 « 22 6 « 23 ECONOMY OF FARMING. Number of root-stalks which remained earth. in tiie No. which on aver.ige produced stalks. of Fruit. At 1 1 At 1 to 1 ! At Q inch. jl-2 inches, inches. At 2 to 2 1-2 inch. Totul. "Togo Of the 1st Of the 2d Of the :}d' Of 4th depth. 1 depth, j depth, jdepth. Winter rye, " wheat. Summer '• " barley, " oats, 742 765 645 631 672 221 215 304 317 241 32 17 42 41 64 5 9 11 23 2-i 1 2; 3)- 1 2V H ! 2} 3> 1 If H ! 1 li 1 ' 1 1 1 1 "We see here, that ^ to f of all these grain-plants had their root-stalk only one inch under ground, and that exactly these proiiuced the most stalks ; ^ of them had their roots only 1^ inches deep and had only half as many stalks as the first; at 2 inches deep there was only 4 in 100, and at 2-'- inches deep only 9 of 1000 ; but one only of them produced stalk, while the fir;=t, in rye and wheat, showed only 2.^ to 4^^ stalks. "From this it is clear that shallow sowing, if the seed is only so far covered as to sprout, and the germ is protected from immediate contact with the air, is preferable to laying the seed deep, because it springs up quicker, and acquires a stronger growth, and has hardier plants." — Tr ] 30. The increase in humus which the field acquires by the three-division Egarten husbandry, depends on the fertility which the soil had when it ceased to be sowed ; on the climate which more or less favors the growth of grass ; on the number of years the field Is suffered to He, and on the plants which grow on the field. A three years' Dreschfeld-Egarten may in favorable circumstances be considered equal to a two-year proportionally stocked clover field. 31. That any farm may be retained In the same capacity of production, as much manure Is required as It would receive. If all the straw of the grass- kind of grain-plants, all the fodder which has grown on the field, and for the products taken away for the production of manure as much In hay and litter, were restored, as the increase of weight Is less than that which the plants restored have <]jalned in inorsranic matter. It seems to me necessary to observe here, that, when I maintain that whatever is produced from the field in kernels must be restored to it in equal weight of other vegetables, so that it may continue in the same capacity of production ; this should be understood here not merely of straw, leaves, rushes, wood-litter ; since these vege- table bodies contain not in sufficient quantity those elements which are essential to the formation of grain ; but that we m.ust also allow hay, clover, and generally the means of fodder in a proportionate quantity, wliich, fed out in the stall and mixed with the animal liquids and litter, produce those bodies which contain the materials (GrundstofTe) of wheat, maize and lentils. To make the foregoing positions clear by an example, tlie following estimate of the consumption of manure may answer. ROTATION OF CROPS. 1 potatoes, 2 barley, 3 clover, 4 wheat, 5 beans, 6 rye, 7 vetch-mixture, 8 oats. PRODUCT OF ONE YEAR. Potatoes 250 metzen = 422.5 bushels, > give in dry substance S Barley 20 metzen = 33 1%- bush, at 66 lbs. Clover. Wheat 16 metzen = 27 bushels Beans 20 " Rye 18 " Vetch-mixture Oats 24 « = 38,i„- = 30,\- = 421- « 82 lbs. "96 " ♦•76 " "50 " In grain. 1 n straw. 5170 lbs. 800 lbs. 1320 " 2500 " 6000 « 1312 « 3000 " 1920 « 2000 « 1368 « 3200 " 3000 '• 1200 « 2500 « 12,290 « 23,000 « 80 ECONOMY OF FARMING. If any one should suppose that all the product of plants can only be restored again by organic substances, and there must be given back again to the field all that it has yielded in straw and grain, or that it must be replaced by an equal weight of easily- dissolved organic substances ; then in the foregoing case, for the grain drawn from the pro luction of manure 12,280 lbs. are requisite, which must be gathered some- where else in hay from the meadows, and in litter from the woods. But as we know that plants in part draw their nourislmicnt from other sources, the estimate of the need of manure according to our supposition is as follows : Potatoes need only f of their dry weight, consequently the saving is 1294 lbs. Clover needs only +. and therefore gives a saving of _ _ . 3000 " Beans need foi their straw scarcely ■^. and give a saving therefore of 1000 " Vetch-mixture green needs only ^, and gives thereibre - . - 1500 ♦' Total saving 6,794 « The above mentioned weight in grain and knobs equals - - - 12 280 Consequently there are needed ___----- 5,486 lbs. But because the mass of manure will be increased by 140 cwt. of green vegetable substance, which reduced to dry weight, equals - - 3,500 lbs. Therefore the real deficiency in vegetables which needs to be supplied for the production of knobs and grain, is only _ _ - - - 1,986 lbs. which must be made up by hay or litter, unless potatoes are employed in part for feeding out, in which case the cultivation of the field requires no additional supply, but also can spare 1890 lbs. of dry potatoes as not necessary for the production of manure. Here may be introduced the estimates of the need of manure in order to yield a given quantity of production, in § vii. of Vol. II. p. 180, where we must observe that in respect to clover f of its weight of product was assumed instead of ^ as the need of manure, and no account scarcely was made of its roots as manure. For the same object serve also the estimates quoted hereafter § iii. B. 8, seq., what proportions the production of plants tor trade must bear to those tor fodder and the production of litter. That the above-mentioned statements must be considered only as probable assump- tions, any one may easily convince himself who knows that the growth of plants depends not only on the quantity, but also the quality of the nutriment furnished them, on their culture and the influences of the weather, &c. The quantity of nutri- ment only can be expressed in numbers, and afterwards verified by experience; therefore I have confined myself thus, in forming an estimate of the proportion be- tween the manure and the product. [The estimates to which the author refers as found in Vol. II. p. ISO, occur in the following connexion : "If we take the straw from the field for fodder, then will a con- siderable part of its weight be partly assimilated to the flesh of the animal, partly be dissipated, and the remainder only be applied to the benefit of the manure. If further we take from the field much grain-fruit, if we must repay a proportion of it, and are not in a situation to restore it in the same measure by straw, grain, by wood and bog litter, meadow-growth, manure purchased, &c.. then will the quantity of the manure produced be always smaller, and the harvest from year to year become worse. In order to show clearly the value of manure, and the alteration of the power of production of the field, we will quote the product as it really follow^s under certain given circumstances, and show the aids which are necessary to increase the product. The field will be viewed as tilled according to the rules of the Threefield pys- tem, with fallows. Its product per yoke (= 1.422 acres) in grain, the first year, as fallow, was, 2d year, winter rye, 16 metzen = 27 bushels. 3d " oats. 18 " =30,-3^- " 4th " fallow. 5th " winter ry, 14 " =23A « 6th « oats, 16 « = 27 « 64 " = 103 ECONOMY OF FARMING. 81 In straw, the field gives, of winter rye, on 2 yokes = 2.S44 acres, 6,200 lbs. oats, " " « " 2,600 " 8,800 If the field should henceforth produce this crop, then must it, for the 30 metzen (= 50.7 bushels) of winter rye at 80 lbs. per metzen, = 2,400 lbs , and 34 metzen (= 57^ bushels, nearly) of oats, at 50 lbs. per metzen, together 4,100, yield a suffi- cient substitute : therefore, at least as much weight in good hay, that is for 6 yokes of plough-land, a yoke of good meadow is necessary ; or, if a part of the straw is fod- dered out, or is taken away for other purposes, then we must have at hand, in propor- tionate quantity, some foreign materials of litter. If one changes 88 cwt. of straw, and 41 cwt. of hay, by fodder and litter, into stall- manure, then he has, as we have proved in another place, 278 cwt. of half-rotted manure, = 23 double-spanned cartloads, which must be carried out in the fallow of the first year. As the field is manured only once in 6 years, this comes each year to 46 cwt. If now we wish to cultivate peas, but without having a less product of rye and oats: Metzen. Bushels. Wt. of metzen. Wt. of bushel. Whole weight. In the 1st year, Peas, 12 = 20.28 94 lbs. = 56 lbs. nearly. 1128 lbs. " 2d « Rye, 16 = 27 80 « = 48 " 2280 " " 3d « Oats, 18 = 30.3 50 " = 30 « 900 " « 4th " Peas, 10 == 16.9 94 " = 56 " nearly. 940 " « 5th " Rye, 14 = 23.6 80 " = 48 » 1120 " " 6th " Oats, 16 = 27 50 ^' = 30 " 800 " 86 = 145.28 6168 " 2 yokes of peas give of straw, 6600 " Straw of rye and oats, as before, 8800 " The greater production which we may wish to secure gives, in 2 yokes ( = 2.844 acres), 22 metzen of peas (= 37.18 bushels), = 2068 lbs., and 66 cwt. of straw, to- gether in weight, 8868 lbs. If with the beginning of the new culture, we buy 21 cwt. of hay, and 66 lbs. of straw, and change it in the yard into manure; or if we buy 174 cwt. of good stall-manure, and carry it on the fallow field, then this product would be possible. If this mode of culture be pursued, there would be needed as much hay as the weight of the grain bears, 6168 lbs., that is, for 6 yokes of plough- land, would be needed 2 yokes of usual meadow, or other kind of substitute, in litter, pasture, &c., in order to be able to employ the straw more for fodder, and to need less hay. Should 6168 lbs. of hay be made into manure, with 15,400 lbs of straw in the stall, then this would give 431 cwt., = 36 double-spanned cartloads. If we di- vide this quantity of manure among 6 years, then there is for each, 71 cwt. per yoke. But does this product correspond too little to our needs ? Do we wish more grain, and because for this more manure is necessary, do we wish to produce this by em- ploying a part of the field for plants for fodder ? Since we have not sufficient meadow or other opportunity to procure the materials for manure, for this purpose we cultivate our land in the following rotation : Metzen. Bushels. Weight of a metzen. Weight of a bushel. Whole weight 1st year, Maize, 40 = 67.6 80 lbs. 48 lbs. 3200 lbs. 2d " Barley, 24 = 40.5 66 40 nearly. 1584 3d » Clover, — — — — 6000 4th « Winter Rye, 18 = 30.3 80 48 1440 5th " Peas, 12 = 20.28 94 56 nenrW. 1128 6th " Oats, 18 = 30.3 50 30 900 112=188.98 14,252 We shall have of straw— of Maize, 3500 of Barley, 2000 of Winter : Rye, 3200 of Peas, 2000 of Oats, 1 1400 I 13,100 lbs. 11 5 ECONOMY OF FARMING. Accordino" to the before-mentioned culture, we produced — of Grain, 6,168 lbs. of Straw, 15,400 21,568 Now we have produced, in Grain and Clover, 14,252 lbs. Straw, 13,100 27,352 lbs. This is 5784 lbs. more than by the former culture, for which we in the beginning, that is, in the first year, buy 20 cwt. of hay, and 40 cwt. of straw, or 120 cwt. of ma- nure, which, together with the already-prodvced manure, we bring upon the field of maize. The field yields us by this culture, in Grain, 8,252 lbs. Straw, 13,100 '' Clover, 6,000 " We should need to make up for the hay, 8252 lbs. But because the clover, by the falhng leaves, and yet more, in a great part, by its many and great roots remaining in the soil, yields a compensation for the humus received ; therefore only f of the weight of its product need be reckoned as necessary for the production of manure, and* we subtract then from the 8252 lbs. of the hay required, 2000 lbs ; there remain over only 6252 lbs. of hay, which we need yearly in carrying on this culture, besides the clover. Should there be 6252 lbs. of hay, 6,000 " " clover. 13,100 " " straw,' total, 25,352 lbs. to be converted into manure, then we have 517 cwt., = 43 double-spanned cartloads. Divided among 6 years, it comes to 86 cwt. per yoke. In the Threefield system, we have had 41 cwt. of hay necessary to produce 64 metzen of grain ; here we need 52| cwt. of hay, but for it we produce 112 metzen on I of the same extent, which we owe in a great measure to the clover. The estimate is derived from the above proposed positions — that the field remains in like power, if that which it produced be employed again on it; and will produce a compensation for that which is taken from it. Tf one know, therefore, what he has produced from one manuring to another, and also how much manure he had, he can conclude with tolerable accuracy as to the increase of the latter on the quantity of the increase of production." Veit has many interesting particulars on these subjects, which in part I shall be obliged to quote in substance only. According to various experiments, the following conclusions are established, Vol. I, p. 333 : "1. That if the soil is fructified before the sowing of the seed, the vegetation is stronger and more rapid than if manured after the sowing of the seed. " 2. In the period from the time of germination to the starting up of the grain stalk, or shooting of ears, a much greater effect follows the manuring than later. But especially was the greatness of the number of the culms of a single root-stalk depend- ent on the manure which was applied equally after the course of the seed-time, or the coming forth of the germ-leaf, to the putting out of the fourth leaf " 3. In the period from the beginning of the shooting forth of the ears to their devel- opment out of their sheath, the manuring was yet noticeable, but about f less than in the former period. " 4. Were the ears already formed and the addition of the grain already visible, then the consequence of manuring would not in all cases be verified, or at most only a slight, scarcely perceptible change of color of the culm. "5. If manured after the blossom, no trace of the given manuring was noticeable. " 6. The fruits that followed gave, agreeably to the foregoing results, so much the better harvest, by how much the shorter time after the germination of the manured fruit preceding they were taken from the soil or harvested." " The most active work- ing over of the nutritious substance appears, in other words, in the period from the beginning of the putting forth of the culm to the breaking out of the ears from the same. In this period is formed the comparatively vegetable mass, which in the be- ginning of the time of flowering unites in itself nearly all the nutritious substance, ECONOMY OF FARMING. 83 whilst the hay value of the fruit mown at this time, is not much less than the same fruit in a ripened state. As with the appearance of the blossom, besides moisture plants draw little more nutriment from the soil, so the collective deposit in the roots and stalks gradually conduct the ears to tlie formation of seeds. Since the longer time before the blossom the plants are cut, so much better is the success of the after-fruit, therefore so much the more nutriment remains in the soil. But the longer period after the flowering the harvest is gathered, so much the more is the power of the soil weakened. " The progress of the exhaustion of power may be observed in the plants for fodder. The further indeed the meadow grasses or kinds of clov^er are advanced at the time of being cut in their flower or formation of seed, so much the v/eaker does the after- increase show itself, compared with those places on which the first cutting was made before the approach of the flower. On this is based the remarkable exhausting power of fully ripe clover. " But the highest gradation of the exhaustion ofpower is seen in the so-called yellow- ripe or dead-ripe fruit, in which the plants likewise are dried up and have lost all vegetable life. This state should be avoided as much as possible. The plants of the usual husk-fruit ripen not suddenly but gradually, so that the greater part of the fruit may be ripe, whilst the tips of the plants yet bear flowers, or at least are yet green. The collective production of these plants will therefore rarely be dead-ripe or over- ripe, and on that account the exhaustion of power is less with them in general than with the grain-fruits which are usueilly cut yellow-ripe." Again, on p. 341, he says : " As the manure is to be viewed in a progressive de- composition, and the most nutritious animal substances are already consumed for the most part the first year after manuring, or are escapedby evaporation, the less easily decomposed or harder dissolving undergo a decomposition somewhat later; as soon indeed as the condition of the putrid fermentation operates upon them ; thus the power of the manure gradually disappears from the soil even without the cultivation of plants. It is estimated that of the nourishing parts of the manure in the 1st year at least 50 per ct., in the 2d, 25 to 33, in the 3d, 15 to 20, and in the 4th, 10 to 15 per ct. are consumed. On soil which possesses no old stock ofpower, other circumstances being equal, the decrease of production will nearly correspond to the decrease of the manuring power, but not on grounds possessing old power of the soil, upon which, as we have already shown, the diminution of production according to the dis- tance of the plants from the time of manuring, will scarcely be 25 to 30 per ct. But it is ever the rule, that the fruit to which the manure is given will consume most of it, and indeed so much the more as it is according to its nature the more capable of nourishment ; demands a stronger working over of the soil ; the less it shadows the soil ; the more active the soil is ; the more dissolved the manure is, and the longer the period of vegetation is." Again, p. 345, " Plants, other things being equal, are very different in respect to the need of manure and compensation for it They are di- vided thus : " 1. Into such, the whole product of which employed for the production of manure would scarcely cover half the need, and which, after the withdrawal of the usual parts to be sold with the remaining part for the manufacture of manure, can supply only from a 4th lO a 3i] part of the need of manure. They are therefore consuming in the proportion of f to f, or their need is to their supply of manure : as 6 — 8 : 4. Here belong flax, poppy, tobacco, hemp, dec. " 2. Those, the collective product of which including the roots and stubble remain- ing in the soil, equals or wholly covers the need of manure as all the cereals, rape, &c., which therefore are f , or in the highest f consuming. " 3. Those, f to f of the product of which suffices for the supply of the consumed manure^ wherefore they are only consuming at the rate of f to 'f, as the usual husk- fruits, and root and knob-vegetables. " 4. Those one-year fodder-plants which are cut in their green state, f to f of the product of which are set off for the need of manure, as a mixture of fodder, peas, buckwheat, rye, &c. These are usually called soil-power saving (bodenkraft- schonend). "5. Into those perennial plants for fodder, the whole production of the fodder from which goes to the manufacture of manure, and of the mass of the stubble and roots remaining in the soil, half answers to supply the consumed manure, and half remains for surplus to increase the power of the soil. The quantity of manure going 84 ECONOMY OF FARMING. to the soil through the collected mass of roots and stubble, is on one morgen (= f of an acre). Of Luzerne, after 4 to 5 or more years' standing - 200 cwt. Sainfoin, " " " " " " _ - ]60 " Two years' red clover - - - _ . 120 " Many years' natural meadow and pasture - - 120 " One year's red and white clover - - - - 80 " one half of which is to be counted for the consumption of manure, and half as to en- rich the power of the soil. "6. Into manuring plants for the so-called green-manuring which give to the soil after the deduction of its OAvn consumption, an increase of from 30 to 40 cwt." The following tabular view, in which examples are taken from the actual cultiva- tion of many farms, shows the different proportions of the supply of manure to the need of the same. See Veit, Vol. I. p. 347 : A —ON A GOOD CLOVER SOIL. i2 Harvtst Gain, manure. Manure. Of manure "S c employed 1 >> o 1^ 1 o' 3 2 on a morgen. Q. a- o "o "B. -d 5 £ ^1 . 6 c 'o CO 3 si c 3 |i c H c S ^ MS Q 3 s3 •5 I. cwt. cwt. cwt. cwt. cwt. cwt. cwt. cwt. cwt. cwt. cwt. cwt. Pure fallow, HO 140 Winter wheat, 9 18 27 54 36 Barley, 8.7 14 22 7 45.4 28 II. 140 140 17.7 32 49.7 99.4 64 76 70 46 Clover, 40 40 30 30 60 60 Winter wheat, 100 100 9 18 27 54 36 1 Barley, 8.7 14 22.7 45.4 28 III. 100 40 140 17.7 62 79.7 159.4 124 24 50 33 Mixture, 160 160 20 20 40 40 Winter wheat, 9 18 27 54 36 Barley, 8.7 14 22.7 45.4 28 IV. 160 160 17.7 52 69.7 139.4 104 56 53 53 Beans, 200 200 12 20 32 64 64 1 ! Winter wheat, 9 18 27 54 36 Barley, 8.7 14 22.7 45.4 28 i V. 200 200 29.7 52 81.7 163.4 72 Potatoes. 210 210 'l\ 53 106 106 Potato stalks, Winter wheat. 9 18 27 54 36 Barley, 8.7 14 22.7 45.4 28 VI. 210 210 17.7 85 102.7 205.4 170 40 70 50 Potatoes, 180 180 1} 53 106 106 Barley, 8.7 14 22.7 45.4 23 Clover, 40 40 30 30 60 60 Winter wheat, 9 18 27 54 36 180 40 220 17.7 115 132.7 265.4 230 50 60 45 ECONOMY OF FARMING. A. —ON A GOOD CLOVER SOIL. t« Harvest iGain, manure.! Mannre. | Of manure z- 1 1 employed i ( u a. Dn a raorgen. ! -§ o o ^ -^(11 na o -d Q, 5^5 a S. o 1 J ^ c il o o a. i 3 3 H si 2 il 1 '5 03 -S cs ^ S E H JC a ^ 1 ^ Q 3 VII. cwt. cwt. CVNt, cwt. cwt. cwt. cwt. cwt. cwt. cwt. cwt. cwt. Potatoes, 180 180 'l\ 53 106 ! 106 1 Barley, 8.7 14 22.7 45.4 28 Clover, 30 30 60 60 Clover, 60 60 20 20 40 40 Winter rape, 120 120 8 20 28 56 40 " wheat. 9 18 27 54 36 Oats, 6 16 22 44 32 300 60 360 31.7 171 202.7 405.4 342 viir. Potatoes, 180 180 'l\ 48 1 96 j 36 Potatoes, 170 170 To\ 60 1 120 1 52 Barley, 8.7 14 22.7 1 45.4 28 5 year luzerne. 100 100 225 225 1 450 450 Winter rape, 130 130 8.5 22 305 1 61 44 " wheat. 9 20 29 ' 58 40 Peas, 9 16 25 50 32 Winter rye, 8 18 26 52 36 480 100 380 42.7 423 466.2 1 1022.4 718 238 68 40 IX. Flax, 220 220 4 14 18 36 22 Winter wheat 9 18 27 54 36 Barley, 8.7 14 22.7 1 45.4 28 220 220 21.7 46 67.7 i 86 1 134 173 73 B.-ON GOOD SAINFOIN SOIL. L White Clover, 40 40 25 25 50 50 Winter rye. 140 110 8 20 28 56 40 Oats, 7 15 22 44 30 140 40 150 15 60 75 150 120 10 55 36 IL Potatoes, 210 210 48 48 96 96 Winter rye, 8 18 26 52 36 Oats, 6.3 15 1 21.5 43 30 210 210 14.5 81 95.5 191 162 48 70 in. Beets, 190 190 60 60 120 120 Summer rye. 8 16 24 48 32 5 years' sainfoin, 80 80 125 125 50 250 Winter rye 15.", 155 9 22 31 62 44 Peas, 8 15 23 46 30 Oats, / 16 23 46 32 345 1 80 !425 32 ' 254 286 572 508 !l63 69 34.5 We have therefore the following results : 1. By employini^ a pure fallow, the mutual operation of the atmosphere and the constituent parts of the soil, aids the decomposition of the organic matter and hence, prepares the nourishment of the plants for a more rapid consumption. Therefore, the crops in a pure fallow succeed so well. But the power of the soil, will on this 86 ECONOMY OF FARMING. account, be withdrawn in so great measure, that tlie fruit next following will be found disproportionately small. No increase of the power of the soil, consequently, can be ascribed to the pure fallow. — See Class. A., I. " 2. In the cultivation of the fallow with fodder-plants that consume much nutriment, the supply of manure is, with potatoes 20, with mixed fodder 33, and wiih beans 3t> per cent. ; whilst, in the pure fallow, 50 per cent, is required. If the fallow is culti- vated with strongly-exhausting plants for trade, which contribute little material for the manufacture of manure, as under A., IX, then the supply of manure mounts up to 61 per cent. From this, the weight of the grain to be sold, and other parts of the material for the fabrication of manure, are to be deducted. " 3. But should the whole product of the plants be employed for the manufacture of manure, then the supply of manure is, with potatoes in the fallow, 2.3, with the mix- ture 12, with flax 38, and with pure fallow itself 28 per cent. " 4. Of the given manure for A, on a morgen cultivated with exhausting fruits, is used at least 50, in the highest 75, on an average 63 cwt. of manure, and for B. 65 cwt. " 5. Wherever one of the perennial plants for fodder is adopted in a period of manuring, there is a surplus of manure. " 6. But the most striking influence of the property of luzeme to increase the power of the soil, is shown by the course of fruit A., VIII, after which the potatoes, being otherwise employed — which make the best preparation of the soil for luzerne — the least harvest of fodder was obtained, rape is interposed, and yet a surplus of manure gained of 233 cwt. " 7. On a lime, gravelly, sainfoin soil, for an equal production, more manure was required, or of an equal quantity of manure, a less production was obtained. After B., I. II, III, on a morgen cultivated with fruits for sale, were carried on, on an average, 65 cwt. of manure, whilst on the better soil A., with 63 cwt. on a morgen, a greater and better production was gained. " 8. From the amount of the deficiency of manure, may be reckoned the addition to be made in meadow and other lands for fodder. " 9. The proportion of the supply of manure to the need of the manure, is here shown in general. But how much of the employed manure must be counted to each fruit, will be more closely determined in the economy of the culture of plants, -when the standard of the cost of manure for reparation of the soil shall be exhibited under the different plants cultivated on a farm." " Of the full manuring of 200 cwt., therefore, for the winter-fruits, we reckon in the 1st manuring 90 to 100 cwt. ; in the 2d, 65 to 75 cwt. " Of the summer-fruits, the most craving are potatoes, turnips., tobacco, maize, artichokes, flax, &c. ; they require in the first period of manuring 80 to 90 cwt. of manure, and in the second, 60 to 70 cwt. Period I. Period II, Period III. Beans and millet require manuring, 70 — 70 50 — 60 Summer-wheat, speltz, &c., rye, barley, 35 — 50 25—30 Oats, 30—40 20—25 Peas, vetches, lentils, buckwheat, . 25 — 35 15 — 20 Annual vegetables for fodder, as fodder- mixture, rape, &c., . . . 30—40 15—25 10—15 Thaer also has estimates on these subjects. Thus, in Vol. I., p. 175, he says " We reckon 1 yoke (= 1.422 acre) of potatoes and other fruit of this kind at 16,500 lbs. of manure. " " clover, in two cuttings, . . 11.380 '• " " clover, in one cutting, . . . 6,350 " " " luzerne, 18,970 " " " manured vetches 9,490 " " " unmanured " '. . . . 3,690 " This is exclusive of the increase of weight which the litter-straw produces. With respect to straw, he observes, that the proportion of the grain to the straw is as follows : With rye, between 38 and 42 to 100. " wheat, " 48 — 52 " " barley, " 62 — 64 " " oats, « 60 — 62 " " peas, « 35 " 13 a 24,000 15 (( 27,700 18 u 33 300 20 {( 37,000 221 u 41,600 ECONOMY OF FARMING. 87 The following Table of Thaer's, also shows the quantity of manure applied by different modes of manuring. Of 1850 lbs. cart-loads, there are carried on a yoke (= 1.422 acre) 11^, 18 to 22-J-. The first is called iveak, the second good, the third strong or rich manuring. With 11^ cart-loads or 20,800 lbs. there will be put on one square foot 0.403 lb. ' " ■ " 0.464 ' « " 0.536 ' « « 0.644 ' « " 0.716 ' " " 0.805 With the strongest manuring, therefore, there is on a square foot 0.8 lb. ScHWERTZ too, in Vol. III., p. 141, Anleitung zum Practischen Ackerbau (Guide to Practical Agriculture), has many valuable observations on this subject. He inquires, How much do vegetables gain or lose by their conversion into manure ? To answer this question, he says, ''that in modern times there has been proposed a multiplier for these materials before use, and variously from 1.3 to 3.7, according as the discussion was of litter or of fodder, of the greater or less nutriment of the latter, or its more or less juicy state. It makes, indeed, the highest conceivable difference, whether the beasts are nourished by watery or dry substance, good or bad ; w^hether they are littered proportionally much or little ; whether the weight of fresh manure, or that which has lain some time, be brought into the account and how long, in this latter case, the manure has lain 5 whether it has been protected, and how treated ; with what kind of beast, finally, the straw and fodder has been employed, since that used by the cow yields more fresh manure than that by the horse, and this more than that by the sheep. But with whatever species of beasts both may be used, therefore the weight of the fresh manure thereby obtained, rests almost simply and alone on the quantity of moisture which is mingled with it, and only in the smallest degree on the kind of the beast, provided that the beasts are sound, and in a condition to be fed for their needs. Therefore the weight is nearly equal, if we take the excrements in their dry state. This dry weight, with a cow is 44, with a horse 40, w^ith the sheep 42. We may hence disregard tlie difference of the consumer, and in the following estimate confine ourselves to cattle as the most common. " One of the greatest difficulties in this estimate lies in this, that the beast is not always foddered wnth dry, but also with juicy substances. Of the first, it is known that though a portion of it, going from the maw to the animal's support, is employed for growth, &c., and therefore is lost for manure, yet the dry fodder yields a greater weight in the excrements than it bore before it w^as eaten. This increase of weight can rest on nothing else than on the addition of water or other liquids which are introduced into the body of the animal. Wholly contrary is the proportion with green fodder, the texture of which is not only sufficiently filled with its own juices, but of which it makes more than its separated parts could hold after their decomposition. There can, therefore, be no increase of substances foddered out in a still juicy state, but a diminution in its mass must take place, whilst the surplus of moisture then separates itself therefrom, and partly evaporates, and partly unites with the dry-eaten fodder, and partly goes off with the urine and soaks into the litter. "It follows, therefore, that if we would make an estimate before-hand of the produc- tion of manure, it is necessary to bring the substances foddered out to one common measure of solid parts, and from this to conclude on the increase of weight in manure, on account of the admission of moisture, which is added in the maw or entrails of the beast. It might, indeed, seem, that the dry parts of one absorbing substance would take up more watery parts than those of another, as is the case in different subjects of which they are derived ; but the wateriness of organic bodies proceeds not so much from their constituent parts, as tVom the kind of connexion of lliose parts and their texture. As this texture is loosened by digestion, so the difference of their water-retaining property passes away, and one pound of dry potatoes will not give more manure than one pound of hay. We have therefore to determine, first how much dry substance the usual fresh or juicy articles of fodder giv^e after the loss of their moisture, and for this purpose, quote the statements of the excellent A. K. Block." It will be recollected, that we have already quoted a table of Equivalents from this distinguished author, which our readers may find, with other similar and valuable ones, on page 30 of the present work. 88 ECONOMY OF FARMING. 100 lbs. of hay " potatoes - - - « beets - . . - 21 lbs. - 28 " 12 « " carrots _ _ _ " cabbage-turnips " turnips - _ - - 13 " 21 " - 9 " " We seek to know, therefore, how much dry substance the beast eating can appor- priate, and how the rejected parts are increased. " The solution of the first part of this question is so difficult that we may consider it in general as impossible to answer it satisfactorily. We observe for example that one head of kine, with equal fodder, gives more milk, obtains more flesh and fat, and uses up more of the fodder than another; that one dry substance is more nutritious than another ; that therefore foddered in equal quantity the animal bodies retain more or less of it, and in the same proportions more or less is cast out therefrom ; that beasts digest that which is eaten better or worse, as well as that the food in and of itself is more or less digestible. &c. Hence, therefore, there remains for us nothing else than to over- look wholly the decrease drawn out by the nourishment — and this may easily be done, since that decrease in fact is not so great that we should represent it to ourselves — and which is replaced again, if not wholly yet in a great degree, by that which the animal organization takes from the air, heat and water, as well as by the slime mixed with the excrements. " Not much less difficult is it to determine the weight of that thrown out, since its in- crease rests solely and alone on the moisture mingled with it. But the excrements are, as we know, sometimes thinner, sometimes thicker, and lose weight after being cast out each day, and even each hour, so that they sometimes contain 90, some- times 80, 70, 60, 50 per cent, of moisture, according as they have lain a longer or shorter time ; as they have been carefully or negligently handled, as they have been gathered in the stall or m the yard. Any one can see what a striking difference these circumstances must produce in the weight of the manure. According to the experiments of the Abbate Gazzeri, manure lost after some 4 months, 54.81 per cent. ; thus above half its weight. As this learned man, whose experiment was proposed with only a small mass (some 40 lbs.), sought diligently to diminish the fer- mentation and evaporation of the same, we may suppose that the manure in a consi- derable mass treated after the usual manner would have lost far more. We conclude, therefore, that when manure is brought on the field its mois- ture has lost in proportion to its solid parts | of its weight, therefore it yet con- tains 75 per cent, of moisture, a state in which on an average it will for the most part be brought on the field. Accordingly we may expect of the substances fed out the following quantity of manure. 100 lbs. of fodder. Contain lbs. of Give in lbs. of manure at drv parts. 75 per cent, moisture. Hay - - - "100 - - - 175 Straw - - - 100 - . - 175 Clover - - . - 21 - - - 36|- Potatoes - - - 28 - - - 49 Beets - - - - 12 - - - - 21 Carrots - - - 13 - - - 22?- Cabbage-turnips - 22 - - - 38^ Turnips . . lo . _ . 171 Straw-litter - - 100 - - - 200 " The multiplier of all the substances mentioned in a dry state will therefore be 1.75, with the exception of the litter, which I have ;aken at do'uble its weight for manure, because it gives nothing for the support of the beasts, and also, on account of its cel- lular tissue and hollow stalks, it is in a state to take up more moisture than can be tlie case after bruising and digestion.'^ ScHWERTZ also gives the following tabular view of a Hectare, 4 of which are equal to 10 English acres (therefore about 2^ acres) of green and dry fodder, and the manure furnished by the same : ECONOMY OF FARMING. 89 Weight of Fodder and Straw. Product ir 1 Manure. Articles. In a fresh state. In a dry state. At 75 per cei It. moisture. Kilograms. Kilograms. Kilograms. Cartloads. Cabbas^e-turnips, 35 000 7700 13415 14.86 Potatoes, 27,000 7560 13230 14.70 Luzerne, . 26,200 5504 9097 10.10 Turnips, 50,000 5000 8750 9.72 Clover, 23,800 4998 8270 9.19 Carrots, 35,000 4550 7962 8.84 Maize, 4500 7875 8.75 Beets, . 36,000 4320 7560 8.40 Rye, . . 3500 7000 7.77 Rape, . 3000 5250 5.80 Oats, 3000 5250 5.80 Meadow-grass, 13,300 2793 4888 5.43 Beans, 2500 4625 5.14 Peas, vetches, 2500 4625 5.14 Barley, . 2200 3850 4.27 A Kilogram is nearly 2^ lbs. " Considerable as is always the production of the straw of a field, yet we see that it is not equal in reference to the mass of manure of the several plants for fodder, since, if we average the articles quoted which yield fodder, it gives material for only 10^ cartloads of manure, whilst the articles producing straw yield only for 9 cartloads per hectare. Hence it is not to be overlooked, that the fluid parts drawn from the juicy plants by digestion are not generally lost, although they are no more found in the excrements derived from those vegetables. But they unite themselves mostly with the dry eaten articles, as well as with the litter. What those, therefore, lose, will be pure gain for these, from which we may conclude how important green fodder gene- rally is. If cattle have no juicy articles, they must drink the more ; the quantity ot their excrements indeed remains the same, but the quality will not gain much by the strong addition of water, though as to this last the operation cannot all be denied to its improvement." Burger, Vol. I., p. 121, speaking of plants to be employed as green manure, says: " For a climate in which wdieat ripens at the end of June, the lupine — lupinus alhus — is the most important plant: to this succeed, in colder regions, vetches, gray peas, turnips ; for easy soils, spurry and buckwheat." " The experiments which were made in the experimental fields of the Agricultural Society of Vienna, in the years 1S23-4, 1833-4, with such manuring, and which are given Vol. II. 2nd part, and Vol. III. 2nd part, of their Transactions for the year 1834-5, prove especially the great effects of manuring with lupines and gray peas on the ground. In the autumn of 1832, a field was sown with rye. For one yoke (1.422 acres) there was used 1.61 metzen (2.67 bushels) of seed, which was evidently too small. This field was divided into seven parts, and each part had a different preparation, and gave in the next summer of 1833, a product reduced to the yoke as follows : Product of a yoke, (ahout If acre.) The above mentioned prepara- tion of the fields. In grain. In straw. str. per acre. 1. White lupines, ploughed in, 2. Vetches 3. Rye « " 4. Pure fallow, manured, 5. Clover stubble, half manur'd 6. " unmanured, 7. Barley stubble, half manur'd metzen. 41 27 21 31 23 23 27 achtel. 2 6 4 3 1 5 bushels. 69.3 46 34 52.5 37.2 37 46.6 lbs. 3912 2232 2S32 3925 2635 2724 3480 lbs. 2600 1500 1890 2602 2008 2066 2411 12 90 ECONOMY OF FARMING. '• The next year, 1833, there was not a sufficient quantity of lupines, and therefore gray peas were taken, which are usually cultivated as fodder-plants. These peas were sowed in the spring, in the half of a field devoted to winter plough-land and ploughed in in their blossom, and once more sowed with peas, which had grown already so far, at the time of sowing rye, that the pods had begun to set. In the other half of the field, peas sowed in the spring were suffered to ripen, and then on this, stall-manure was used at the rate of 380 cwt. a yoke (or 253 cwt. for an acre). Each of the two pieces were divided into two equal parts, and one sowed with Avinter rye, and the other with wheat. The amount sown, and product, are given in the fol- lowinor table : The above mentioned prepa- tion of the fields. Wmler Wheat. After the ripe peas were taken off, manured, 30 loads of 12 cwt. on a yoke, (or 240 cwt. per acre,) Double green manuring, with gray fodder peas, Winter Rye. Manured as above, after peas taken off, Double green manuring with gray fodder peas, Seed sown. Product in Per yoke. Per acre. Grain. Straw. Per yoke. P'r acre P'ryokf P'r acre metzen. 2.44 bushels. 4.12 m. Sthsmasl.bushl's 22 7 i 48.7 lbs. 3,348 lbs. 2,500 2.71 4.17 30 3 2^ 65 4,580 3,131 3.31 5.09 23 7 1| 50.5 4,731 3,228 3.63 5.63 27 6 \\ 47 5,618 3,900 cwt. qis. lbs. 19 , 3 25 15 0 7 14 0 5 9 3 18 9 0 7 " The results of these two experiments are very decisive, and so far as one may reason from the less to the greater, they show that the marked effects of green ma- nuring cannot be ascribed to circumstances merely." The following statements and estimates may perhaps be as well introduced here as elsewhere : From an experiment on the comparative weight of manures, it appears according to the British Farmer's Magazine, that — " One cubical yard of garden-mould weighs " " '' water _ _ _ " " " of a compost of earth, weeds, lime and dung that had lain 9 months and been turned over " " " new dung " " '' leaves and sea-weeds '' Thaer calculates the weight of a cubic foot of any straw farm-yard manure at only about 46 lbs. ; while one that has been partly decomposed will weigh from 56 to upwards of 60 lbs. without being compressed." Thaer also remarks respecting the evaporation of manure, not only does theory teach us but during his own experience he has had frequent occasion to observe, " that it is hurtful to remove farm-yard manure while it is in a high degree of fermentation ; for according to all appearance, an essential portion of the most active substances of which it is composed are evaporated when exposed to the air while that process is going on. But before the fermentation lias arrived at its height, or after it has passed, the dung does not seem to lose any thing by exposure to the air; or at least, nothing but what it regains by some other means." Sir Humphrey Davy says, that " dung which has fermented so as to be- come a mere soft cohesive mass has generally lost from one-third to one-half of its most useful constituent elements." Prof Coventry of Edinburgh, has calculated that on an acre of arable land of a medium degree of fertiUty and management maybe produced in round numbers 28 bushels of wheat, 36 of barley, 42 of oaTs ; and that the average quantity of straw yielded by those crops will amount to 21 cwt. He sup])oses that ihis. if moistened and rolled, would gain |, or between -^ and f of its own gross weight, thus producing 3^ tons of manure. He has also given an estimate of the average quantity of manure such land might produce, accordingly as used for diffe- rent crops, thus : ECONOMY OF FARMING. 91 It -n torn, " By clover, grass, or herbage, hay, &r.., firsc year - - 6 " " if mowed the second year - - - - 51 " pulse-crops — as beans — part of the grain being fed by live stock 5^ " " when the grain is sold - - - - 5 " white or corn crops, as wheat, barley, &c., as an average of the whole " Meadow-land, which gives 1| ton of hay to an acre, has been calculated to give 6f tons of manure to the acre." As to the quantity of manure voided, we find it mentioned that " 36 cows and 4 horses tied up ate 50 tons of hay, and had 20 acres (equal to probably 25 tons) of straw for litter, from which they produced 200 loads of rotten dung." An experi- rnent made with a horse is thus g-iven for one week : " Oafs each day 10 lbs. = 70 lbs. Hay " " 12 *' =84 " Straw" " 8 " =56 " " He drank within the week 27 gallons of water, and during his time of exercise (1 hour each day), the loss of the dung is supposed to have been 4 lbs. daily, or 28 lbs., in which period therefore, The total forage consumed amounted to 210 lb. And the dung and litter produced was 227 " "Thus — if the lost dung be added — yielding with the addition of the moisture im- parted to the litter by urine, an increase off beyond the weight of the solid food." Another experiment was with a cow, " which was fed during four-and-twenty hours with the following provender : 81 lbs. of brewers' grains, 30 " raw potatoes, 15 " meadow-hay. " The food thus amounted to 126 lbs. She drank 2 pailsful of water, and the urine was allowed to run off; but she had no straw or litter of any kind, and the weight of the solid dung which was carefully swept up amounted to 45 lbs." A third was on the same cow, which consumed in 24 hours 170 lbs. of potatoes and 38 lbs. of hay, and the solid manure amounted to 73 lbs. It is said, however, that in this last case her milk fell off 2 quarts per day. Arthur Young states in the Papers of the Bath and West of England Society, that from a winter stock of 6 horses, 4 cows, and 9 lean hogs, which consumed 16 loads of hay, with 29 loads of straw for litter, besides the usual quantity of oats for working-cattle, the quantity of manure obtained was 118 loads each of 36 bushels, and "45 oxen, littered while fattening with 20 wagon-loads of stubble, are said to have produced 600 tons of rotten duno-.''' Tr.] 32. But because the plants for fodder obtained on the fields and meadows, must be employed for the nourishment of beasts, by which a part of their substance is dissipated by the processes of digestion ; and because in the putrefaction of the manure in the stalls and on the dunghills, a part of the substance is wholly lost in the form of air ; we must therefore replace, ac- cording to the proportion of this loss, a greater part than is furnished in fodder and litter by the restoration of organic and inorganic matter employ- ed for the production of plants, and of that given in addition to make up the quantity by weight taken out for the production of manure. In the estimate quoted above, as well as in that extracted from p. 180, Vol. I., and in the following one, no regard must be had to the loss of substance, partly in order not to render complex this generally only hypothetical calculation, and partly be- cause it is more than probable that the straw of the culmiferous grains should not be wholly ascribed to the humus, as is the case in this estimate, but also owes an impor- tant portion of its weight to the constituent parts of the air, water, and mineral bodies. 33. From the amount of the production in vegetables of different kinds 92 ECONOMY OF FARMING. in a long course of years, we may reckon with tolerable certainty how great the mass of manure would be which one must employ for the purpose. 34. We can therefore compute beforehand how great the production will be if a greater mass of manure has been employed than usual. How the amount of production on plough-land stands in respect to greater manur- ing, we have already shown in Vol. I. § VII. d. 14. p. 180, to which reference may be had. [The remarks and estimates referred to. have already been quoted in the preceding paragraph (31), found on p. 80—92 of this prt sent work.— Tr.] 35. But because stall-manure is a substance which only gradually dis- solves in water, and because in the first and second years the greater part of the same reaches to this state ; therefore the harvests of the first and second years after manuring must be proportionally greater than of the third and fourth. It is therefore usual in estimates of husbandry, where the cost of the manure is charged to the fruit benefitted, to assume that every time manure is brought on the field it loses, in the 1st year, ^ « « 2nd " i " " Sd " i " « 4th " -iV [Veit's estimates corresponding with the above have already been given (31) p. 82. Speaking of the decrease of the power of the soil according to the quality of the manure, he observes, Vol. I. p. 342 : " Manure escapes from the soil according to the decree of its being dissolved. As to its quality of solubleness in any case, the farmer wifl decide who prepares it, according to his object, to obtain a more rapid or tardy^ effect. In most cases of farming, it is intended to have an effect lasting a number of years, by which one can obtain many harvests on the same field, from one manuring. For this object it is usual to employ stall-manure, if the litter is brittle and divisible by the past fermentation. In this half-rotten state, the manure in the first year of vegetation will exert its greatest activity by the easily-dissolved animal substances ; but also a great part of its mass, and indeed the solid vegetable substances of the litter and remains of fodder, will operate in the 2d year, and a considerable remnant, also, even to the 3d year's fruit. If one wishes to make the eflicacy of the stall-ma- nure yet more gradual, he may employ it before it begins to ferment, or hold this back till he employs it, in which case indeed in the first year the manuring powers devel- ope themselves in less measure, but yet exert themselves efficaciously in the 3d and 4th years. But if it is the object to have the full and greatest effect of the manure in the first year of the fruit, he will only employ fermented well decomposed stall-manure, or it may be kinds of manure in the form of powder, or of a liquid, which usually give only a little strength for the 2d year's fruit, and therefore must be repeated in a shorter space," — Tr.] 36. The substance of manure will draw from the sod, through all plants, in an inverse ratio, compounded of the absolute quantity of their similarly- formed product, and their relative power to assimilate inorganic matter. In manures are contained all the elements of the vegetable material, and thus, as the manure is found in a state to be dissolved in water, the plants suck it in, and the organs existing in the interior of plants, first separate those substances which are needed for the formation of the constituent parts of the plants. The greater, there- fore, the quantity of material that can be dissolved which is in the soil, the larger will be the product in plants and parts of plants of all kinds; only in the consumption of manure, a difference is shown, because after a harvest equal in weight of peas and wheat, not an equal amount of humus has been taken from the soil. It seems to me that we explain in this way, much more simply and correctly, the consumption of manure, than if we suppose with Thaer. that the same is proportioned according to the amount of the product of plants, and their capacity for nutritition. ECONOMY OF FARMING. 93 Thus, according to EinhofF, 100 parts of wheat contain, of nourishing matter — starch, gluten, albumen, slime, sugar, and oil, 77.5 100 parts of rye contain 70. " '• " large barley, 62.5 " " " small " 60.3 ♦' " " oats, 58. Therefore the field would lose so much the more in humus, than the excess it pro- duced of like weight of the first fruits above the last, or would need so much more manure, if one cultivated it in the rotation of wheat and barley, than if with rye and oats. But because the success of the one or the other plants depends not only on the manure, but also on a quantity of moisture, warmth, &c., proportioned to the nature of the plants ; therefore it must be ascribed to these circumstances, that the same quan- tity of manure which is here required for the production of a certain amount of rye and oats, elsewhere produces as great a weight of wheat and barley. I have with the greatest particularity ascertained the quantity of manure used in Upper Austria, in many regions of Lower Stiermark and Carinthia, in Friuli and Istria, with their harvests in wheat, barley, and other fruits, and compared these with the manure and the harvests of other countries, in rye, oats, millet, &c. ; and I have not found more manure necessary for the production of a certain amount of wheat and barley, in the former countries than in the latter, to produce an equal weight of rye and oats. I found, moreover, they manured rather less there than here, which seems very probable, if we take into consideration the effect of the light soil of the former regions on the consumption of manure, and on that of the looser soil of the last coun- try. But if any one will cultivate these fruits in a soil unpropitious to wheat and barley, then he needs everywhere more manure, if he would obtain a product pro- portioned to that of a soil of any particular grade, since the humus must then be- come not only a nutritious substance, but one which will absorb the water, and retain the same in the soil ; and hence must be explained the idea prevailing in all coun- tries with an easy soil, and the correct observation, that wheat needs more manure than rye. Besides this, there are Thaer's views concerning the increase of power which the soil obtains by fallows, the threefold division of fields, and the culture of clover — by no means corresponding with my own, yet ingenious, and if we grant the premises, conclusive. I cannot here allow myself a closer opposition to Thaer's hypothesis, yet I maintain that mine is capable of proof in all its parts. It is suf- ficient for the object of this volume, to give a sketch of my own view : whoever wishes to learn Thaer's opinion fully will find it in the first volume of his Rational Land Husbandry, § 251, &c. ; then in the second volume, p. 14, in his History of Hus- bandry at Moghn, p. 247 ; and finally, in the first volume of the MOglin Annals, p. 235. But it is necessary to read also the views of Wulfen, in the MOglin Annals, Vol. II. p. 258 ; and a Treatise, very admirable in many respects, of J. G. Koppe (the Review of the Systems of Agriculture, Berlin 1818), in order to learn what is said for the further explanation of Thaer's hypothesis in the first of these papers ; and what against it in the second of them. Finally, I must here mention, also, an Essay, relating to this subject, from an anonymous writer, contained in the Land-and-Forst-wissensch.of Sprengel, Bruns- wick, 1834, p. 396. It bears the title, " Of the Statics of Agriculture," and is extend- ed to the four following questions : 1. In what proportions do the different fruits derive their nourishment from the soil. 2. In what proportions does the product of the fruits stand with nutritious particles existing in the soil, drawn from the crops ; and what can one promise himself of a supposed power in the soil, in an average year of any kind of grain ? 3. In what proportions can the productive power of the soil, be replaced by manure or in any other way ? 4. In what proportion, in fine, is the power of production to a given culture of fruit and weight of manure, for or against, in a certain rotation ? The Author relates when and where Thaer proposed these questions ; how, here- upon, Wulfen sought to answer them by algebraic formula ; how, more recently, Messrs. Von Thunen and Geisler have labored on the subject^ but without having found any response from the educated agricultural public. Agreeing perfectly with my own view, he goes on to say that in the circumstances, as one cannot leave unno- ticed the elementary influences on the culture of the soil, herein lies the ground, wherefore land-husbandry, considered as a science, must not be counted among the positive, but the experimental sciences ; and since an infinite number of experiments remain to be made in the same, so the science can take no positive character j whence 94 ECONOMY OF FARMING. it follows that, by a mathematical mode, it cannot be brought to a completeness, and much less to an end ; for it is acknowledged on all sides that the solution of the problem depends on the supremacy of the unalterable elements, the effects of which can be known only in the way of experiment, according to quantity, and never according to quality ; the operation of the elementary and chemical powers in the culture of the soil, being in a great measure withheld from our verification and obser- vation, and accurate experiments exist in a small number ; so that it is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to bring the free elements into a union perfectly corres- ponding in every respect with the unalterable ones. The theory at the basis of a formula, according to which the product and exhaustion of the soil can be reckoned — with which especially Wulfen occupied himself— justly appears to the Author super- fluous, and is a circuitous mode, if a man hopes by it that the agreement of the formula will prove backwards the correctness of the theory ; since this would always be only the old w^ay of experiment, every agreement must be often repeated in order to demonstrate the correctness of the theory, which would not follow from particular cases. Physics and Mathematics, and especially the practical mathematics, are employed about bodies with varying quantities ; but Agriculture knows only one imperishable quantity, the earth which yearly allows new growth to proceed from it. Here, there- fore, is an eternal coming and going, and if we could explain that one species of grain used just so much nutritious matter in order to form a certain quantity of kernels, yet it would not thence follow, that by this quantity of kernels produced from the nutritious matter in the soil, which is here named as its power, it must be lessened a certain quantity according to weight, and exactly in proportion to the quantity of kernels ; because the production of kernels is in no wise effected by the power of the soil only, by which we here understand the given manure. The Author justly observes, that we must consider the soil not merely as the bearer of vegetation, but also as an agent, in so far as it acts chemically on the decomposable matter in it, and combines with the constituent parts of the atmosphere ; and since moisture and heat cannot be brought into the calculation, because they are too changeable quantities, it follows hence, that we can adopt the Statics of Agriculture for nothing else than a practical natural philosophy of Agriculture with its results ; and that the employment of mathematical formula do not answer for the computation of the processes of vegetation ; since, though one begins this process well, yet he cannot follow it in the course of its development, and cannot observe and bring into the computation the combinations of earthy, organic and atmospherical matter. From this cause, I have never been able to explain to myself, so as by it to reckon algebraically the result of the processes of hfe, and I have believed that I ought therefore previously to confine myself to compute from the quantity of substances affording nutriment to plants brought on the field, the probable profit to be expected in vegetable products for a given rotation ; by which, as is easily seen, on account of the difference of the operation of the weather, the product is not brought into the course of a particular year ; but the collective amount will agree, so far as one can expect of so imperfect a computation, and which can scarcely be brought to a higher degree of perfection, as we know only the mixture of the soil and the quan- tity of the substances nourishing plants applied to it; the other two chief factors of the processes of vegetation, heat and moisture, are previously unknown. That my opinions concerning the proportion of manure to the production; the difference of proportion in grass-kind and husk-kind of fruits, in the root and knob vegetables ; then whether these should be cut before or after the blossom, or after the ripening of the seed-corns, contain much that is arbitrary, resting either only on probability, or not demonstrated by sufficient observations and experiments, I will nol deny. The object of the question is yet too new, too little diffused, and demands for the solution of the problem, very closely-tried computations of husbandry, which are rarely to be found, and which the farmers can scarcely undertake on account of the continued observation which they require. On this account, I hope that the simple formula which I have proposed, will be acknowledged better than all hitherto set forth, by which to reckon the profit to be expected in products in any given mode of husbandry, and to show afterwards the increasing production which will result from the change of husbandry, so far as this is connected with the production of more manure, or a less consumption of the substance which nourishes the plants. Though many believe it to be a mere scientific, and as they say, a useless contest, which is here presented, yet every man knows, that the better he manures, the richer harvests he obtains, as well as that he harvests less in the year the furtlier he recedes ECONOMY OF FARMING. 95 from the time of manuring : therefore they may reflect that no practice exists without theory, and that a correct or a false theory always exhibits itself by a correct or defective practice. Is our view — concerning the different capacity of plants to assimilate organic matters ; concerning the advantages of clover and luzerne roots ; of the necessity of replacing to the grass-kind of grain fruit all that they have pro- duced, &c — correct ? this is of the greatest importance for the practice of Agriculture, as we have had occasion to show in the sixth paragraph of this note. 2. WHAT ANIMALS PRODUCE THE NECESSARY MANURE FOR THE MANAGEMENT OP THE FARM AT THE CHEAPEST RATE ? 1. Those animals will produce the manure required for agriculture at the cheapest rate, which by the value of their labor or their otherwise usefulness repay wholly or in a great measure, the value of the food given them. When horses perform so much labor that their food and all that is expended on them is thus repaid ; then the manure which they produce in the stables is a clear profit. If they do not perform so much work that the cost is covered, the value of their manure mustbe reckoned to repair this loss. If through futeningthe fodder as well as the trouble is repaid by the increased value of the cattle ; then the value of the manure is a clear gain in this undertaking. But if oxen, cows, sheep and swine do not by their use repay the value of their feeding ; then we must either reckon their manure to the field far too high to cover these losses, by which we deceive ourselves, or we must enter it as loss sustained on cattle. According to Arngeville's estimates, 100 lbs. Vienna weight (about 123 lbs. English) of stall-manure stood him at lO.S kr. (about 7 cts.), as there the value of hay is 51 kr. (=: 33 cts. per cwt.), and a cwt. of rich cheese sells for only 20 j florins (= nearly $10). 2. Manure has for a given place a definite value. As much greater as is the value in the production of fruits from one manuring on one half of the field manured, compared with another which was not manured, will be the value of the manuring. According to the cash-value of the plants which one cultivates is the cash-value of the manure. Therefore the gardener can reckon it higher than the farmer. He can reckon it higher who employs it for plants raised for trade, than he can who uses it to raise grain to be consumed on his farm, because the former always sells propor- tionally higher than the latter. Where maize and wheat are the principal products, the value of the manure is higher than where they are rye and oats. Thaer sets down a cart load of stall-manure of 20 Berlin cwt. = 1S72 lbs. Vienna weight (about 1 ton English), equal to 1| Berlin schafiel = 1.32 metzen (= 2^ bushels), and if we suppose with Hube (der Landwirth, Vol. II. p. 402), that one half of the product in grain in a not-hitherto neglected farm, must be ascribed to the newly-carried on ma- nure, and the other half to the old humus, and that there was harvested in the first half twice as much as in the last half; then this valuation where peas, rye and oats are the field-fruits, agrees pretty correctly. If indeed the product of 86 metzen of grain-kernels in 6 years, mentioned in the first volume, p. 181 of this Manual, is re- duced to rye, it amounts to 74.5 metzen (= 126 bushels), for wdiich was employed 46 cwt. of manure. Upon a similar, but not manured extent of the same field, it bore 37.25 metzen (=: 63 bushels), consequently the surplus product of 37.25 metzen is equal to 496 cwt. of manure, or 1872 lbs. of manure are equal to 1.49 metzen of rye (= 2^ bushels). But it is more than probable that the unmanured half would not produce so much, and that therefore the manure would have a higher value. The true value is known by very few farmers ; most of them have only obscure and confused ideas on the subject, and so neglect the requisite production and gath- ering of the same. Nothing therefore would more raise to a proper footing the cul- tivation of fodder and the rearing of cattle, and by means of this the cultivation of grain and plants for trade, than the ascertaining the proportional value of manure to the staple product of a country, in given circumstances, by a course of experiments for many years ; and no subject deserves more to be investigated in experimental farms than this ; because it is too costly for others on account of the loss which they suffer in the unmanured half of the field. How tlie product of the field increases with the increase of manure, and a propor- 96 ECONOMY OF FARMING. tional rotation of crops, we have shown in Vol. I. p. 180. See pp. 80 — 82. But as the statements there made are drawn from universal experience and reason, they may be attacked until reference be had to the particular experiments which lie at the ground of them. Every experiment which may be made concerning this neg- lected subject is therefore of the highest importance and deserves to be carefully col- lected; and in this point of view, I hold as very deserving of notice what Gasparin says, concerning the relative value of manure in his Memoir on the Culture of the Olive in the South of France (Bibhotheque Universelle, March, April, May, 1822). " The value of manure is very different according to the country, the vicinity of cities, the usual culture, &c. At Avignon, where madder is cultivated, they reckon 100 lbs. Vienna weight (= 123 lbs. English), for ISg kreutzers (= 11 cts.), and as high at Strasburg, where they cultivate tobacco. In Tarrascon, on an average 9|- ; at Marseilles 13^ kr. ; and since we see a man becomes rich in those places where manure is the dearest, we may justly conclude that it is not bought at its true value. I have found by many experiments and comparisons, that 100 lbs. of manure may be considered as equal in value to 0.128 metzen of wheat (nearly a quarter of a bushel). The average product of 7 years of a garden of olives of 1600 young trees which were not manured was 651 lbs. of oil. (One tree gave yearly 0.40 lb.) A similar number of the same trees, which in 3 years had collectively 840 cwt. of manure, gave yearly 1497 lbs. of oil. (For one tree 0.93 lb.) One cwt. of manure, therefore, produced 3 lbs. of oil. The manure was horse-dung. '' The product of the larger trees was raised by manure in the same proportion. Trees thirty years old not manured for a number of years gave 3^ lbs. of oil, whilst those which had yearly 168 lbs. of manure on a mean average bore 8.14 lbs. of oil. One cwt. of manure increased the product of oil about 2.91. A person yearly manured his olives, and succeeded in obtaining as the mean product of 15 year old trees, 4^ lbs. of oil. The trees situated near the house which had yearly 2 cwt of manure produced 10 lbs. of oil." 3. But since manure is collected from the excrements of animals, and the litter laid under them ; therefore, of the mass of manure only, that should be reckoned, which the fodder has contributed to increase, but not the litter for the use of the beasts. We may assume that the manure consists of ^ litter, and f excrements, since we shall rarely find anywhere in a foddering of 20 lbs. of dry stuffs, more than 4 1 lbs. of litter employed. If from 20 lbs. of fodder ^ be deducted for imperceptible evapo- ration, there remains 18^ lbs. of excrements against 4 1 lbs. of litter, = 4:1. Of 1872 lbs. of^ manure, 1521 lbs. belong to excrements; and since 1872 lbs. of stall-manure are collected from 936 lbs. of dry vegetables, but of which ^ is from litter, = 187 lbs. ; therefore the animals must be credited 1521 lbs. of manure, in value 1^ metzen (2 bushels) of rye ; and this must also be charged as a debt to the fields ; if we reckon 1872 lbs. of stall-manure, which consists of excrements and straw, as equal in value to 1^ metzen of rye. The 351 lbs. of manure falling short of a cartload, may be made up of litter at 0.28 metzen of rye ; which must be put down to the account of the field. In the usual Farm-Accounts, the value of the fodder is brought into the Cattle-Account, and the charge is made to manure equal to the value of the litter em- ployed. But it is clear from these statements that thus the product of the field must appear far too high on the cost of the Cattle-Account, and to this circumstance must it be ascribed, that in so many cases the account of cattle kept for manure turns out only loss and not gain. 4. What kind of cattle kept for manure may be the most suitable for a given farm, depends on the nature of the soil and the climate, which agrees more with one kind of beasts and less with others ; on the local situation of the fields ; on the cash value of the different animal products, Sic. 5. It is only after a careful consideration of these different circumstances, that we can know by what kind of animals, and by what use of the same, the fodder necessary for the production of manure can be employed to the highest advantage. If the value of the fodder is balanced by the value of the use of the cattle, then the ECONOMY OF FARMING. STT value of the manure is to be considered as clear gain ; if the value of the use of the cattle is the greater, yet ought we not to reckon the given manure cheaper to the field on this account, because we should deceive ourselves concerning the pure profit j so that we must reckon to the field the manure in equal value, if the account shows that the use of the cattle has not covered the cost expended on it, although we brmg thus into the account the value of the manure. In this case the use of cattle for ma- nure brings a loss, and we must examine to discover and remove the causes. [The amount of manure produced, its comparative strength and its value as a means of nourishing plants, must have a very important influence in deciding the question as to the kinds of animals kept to the greatest advantage. On some of these topics Thaer furnishes us with tlie following statements : "NicoLAi, in his Principles for the Administration of Estates, (Grundsatzen zur Verwaltung des Domainenwesens), assumes, probably after Bekendorf, that there will be produced from 1 head of cattle, 10 two-spanned loads. " 1 " young kine, 5 " " " " 1 stall-fed horse, 15 '» " ''• « 1 grass-fed " 7^ " « " " 100 head of sheep, 100 " ' « For swine, by careful littering, we may reckon twice as much as the cattle. Therefore, 1 head of cattle, will manure -f of a yoke (-,% acre). 1 " ofyoung cattle " « i " « (r^\ " ). 1 horse, fed in the stall, « " ^ " " ( i « ). 100 head of sheep, " ♦' 3 yokes (4^ acres). ''Fredersdorf reckons for one cow, with good fodder, if she has 2^ shock of lit- ter, 6 four-spanned cartloads at 23 cwt ; with stall foddering, 10 four-spanned cartloads. Of one, if he has daily 1^ bundle of straw, 7^ loads ; 15 sheep, or 4 or 5 full-grown swine, as one cow. According to Karbe, 65 cows in summer on a pasture, being kept over night in the stall, will manure 44 yokes (62^ acres) ; horses and small cows are in proportion as 2 : 3 ; oxen foddered in the stall, as 3 : 2. "According to Von Pfeifer, 1 cow foddered in the stall gives 184 cwt; a fattened ox, during time of fattening, 73 cwt. According to Leopold, 4 cows foddered in the stall give 50 loads of manure, of which 6 would answer for an acre. In a very learned and able treatise found in the Annals of Netherland Agriculture, the proportion of manure of different animals is stated to be, For 1 head of cattle, 180 ] horse, 170 1 sheep, 10 1 swine, 18 On the subjects of the value and cost of manure, the Authors I have heretofore quoted are full of estimates and many valuable remarks. I shall make some extracts from Veit, as he has treated the subject very practically. It must be obvious indeed to any one, that the estimates must be regarded as comparative, since the price of the articles used, as well as of labor, &c.. varies greatly in this country from those in Europe. Still the computations may be valuable, as furnishing intelligent farmers with rules by which to judge with more accuracy of their losses or gains. Veit says. Vol I. p. 365, " The value of stall-manure is determined by the value of the production effected by it. The quantity of production depends on, " 1. The natural capacity of production of the soil. " 2. On the choice preparation and employment of the manure. " 3, On the choice of the plants which are cultivated in one period of manuring. '■ " 4. On the system of culture, especially the rotation of the crops, and the treat- , ment and use of the soil. "Since so many circumstances co-operate which, with the employment of an equal quantity of manure, may produce a different amount of production ; hence is clear the difficulty of ascertaining the part of production which belongs to the account of manure, and the worth of which expresses the positive value of the manure. "Different writers on husbandry have reckoned the value of manure at different, amounts, and should all faimers ascertain the value of their employed manure, very probably scarcely one would agree with another. Of the results of a great number- of experiments which we have made from 1821 to 1822, concerning the efficacy of different kinds of manure, we take tlie following extract : 13 98 ECONOMY OF FARMING. ON A MORG EN, = 0.842 OF AN ENGLISH ACRE 1 "o ^ )-) 2 bf ^^ > c o -ot, HAME OF THE MANURES. El "'5 0| 2^ c S o 1 o ? ^ £ jS c t O c O I 1 1 1 s 1 1. Manure of cattle decom- cwt. cwt. cwt. cwt. cwt. cwt cwt. posed, 140 29 41 46 With water, 80 50 Without " . . 70 40 2. Do half decomposed, . 200 140 70 30 20 42 31 48 37 36 3. Do. not decomposed, . 260 140 70 37 16 42 19 59 34 28 4. Do. dec. employ'd on surf. 140 49 5. Mixture of tluids, &c., ) in a fermented state, j 260 eimers 8 19 39 22 19 30 " 23 6. Draining of dung hills, 260 " 6 9 30 7. Pulverized human ex- ) crement, . ] 5 schefTels 18 23 28 28 = 32 bush. 8. Strong manuring in fold, 26 43 39 35 Watered, 66 9. Moderate manuring, do. j 18 29 28 24 10. Weak, do, do. | 7 18 11. Fine bone dust, . . ,4 scheffels = 25 l)ush. or 10 cwt. 12 21 25 24 30 1 fl. 30 kr. = 60 cts. 15 fl. = $7 20 7 6 10 16 10 fl. 30 kr. 12. Urate, . 4 scheffels = 25 bush. 4 6 = $5 04 13. Mailings, . 10 scheffels = 62 bush. 7 9 7 kr. per metz. 7fl. = $3 36 20 scheffels 16 17 28 36 38 14 fl. = 124 bush. = S6 72 34schf. 38 23 fl. 48 kr. = $10 40 41 40 28 fl. 42 kr. = $13 75 7 26 4 fl. 54 kr. = $2 32 14. Malt dust, 5 10 14 17 19 15 9 kr. per metz. 4 fl. 30 kr. = $2 16 15. Peat dust, . 8 20 cwt. 4 16 29 22 16. Fine refuse of the sinks, 20 10 23 17. Ground manur'g b'kwhe't, 20 18. Unslacked lime, . 6schf. 6 10 20 kr. per metz. 12fl=S5 76 19. Lime dust and ashes, 6 9 17 6 kr. per metz. 3 fl. 36 kr. = $1 71 20. Street dust, . 10 7 10 21. Gypsum, . 4 melzen. 20 7 24 kr. per metz. 1 fl. 36 kr. = 3.6 bush. = 16 cts. = 75 cts. 22. Wood ashes, 5schf. 6 19 < 19 i 18 18 kr. per metz. 9fl.=$4 32 = 13 cts. 23. Peat ashes, ; 6 8 8 11 11 21 24. Leached ashes, . 5 cartloads 18 20 26 1 fl. 30 kr. = 72 cts. 7fl. 30kr. = $3 60 25. Manure salts, . 10 cwt. 6 10 16 1 fl. = 48 cts. 10fl.= $4 80 8 5 6 9 8 fl.= $3 92 26. Burnt marl, . Oschf 10 21 27 27. Unburnt do. 30 cartloads 36 28. Burnt sod, . 12schf. 19 26 31 34 29. Compost from the re- ) mains of peat, ) 15 cartloads 30 37 4 16 30. Compost from mud of ) plants. 15 34 38 4 24 ECONOMY OF FARMING. 99 This table needs to be accompanied by the following observations: " 1. The meadow-s on which the experiments were made, had not been hitherto ma- nured. Man}'- portions remained, in the progress of it, unmanured, with the natural product of which the production gained by the employment of different kinds of ma- nure must be compared, and the surplus in hay-value be brought in as the pure result of the manuring. In the fields, also, in like manner, a difference must be made be- tween the manured and unmanured parts. '• 2. Of the fresh catde-manure, 260 cwt. lessened, after 8 to 10 week.s to 200 cwt. of half-decomposed manure, which, in 10 or 12 weeks more weighed only 140 cwt, and was fermented and decomposed. The volume was lessened about 8 per cent more than the weight tell off. " 3. Equafquantities of masses of manure employed in the different states of decom- position, did not raise the production in exactly the same proportion of the addition of tlieir manuring power or quality, otherwise 140 cwt of decomposed stall-manure must have yielded 48 per cent greater production than the 140 cwt of fresh, not-de- composed manure, whilst the increase of production in the dry meadows, was 7.6 ; in the grain culture, 9.-5 ; in the moor meadows, 14 ; and with the potatoes 17 per cent. "4. As in respect to Remark 2, as much nutritious power was contained in 140 cwt of wholly-decomposed, and in 200 cwt of half-decomposed manure, as in 260 cwt of fresh stall-manure, from which it was derived ; so should the effect of these different masses of manures be the same. But according to the result of the experiments, the production rises with the increase of the mass ; and indeed in comparison of the great- est mass of manure of 260 lbs. with the least of 140 lbs., the rise is in the culture of grain about 13 lbs. of hay-value ; in dry meadows, about 8 ; and in the moor meadows, about 1 lb. " 5. Should the production again be employed in the manufacture of manure, 100 lbs. of the employed manure would give — Wholly-decomposed Half-decomposed Not decomposed, manure. manure. manure. a. On the dry meadow, . . 41 lbs. 29 lbs. 26 lbs. b " moor meadow, . 58 42 30 c " watered meadow, . 125 — — d. " grain culture, . 65 50 46 e. " potatoes, ... 114 102 SO Therefore, only for c. and e. is there a surplus over the consumption, which would be soon evaporated from the decomposed manure when weighed, so that the fore- going supply of manure, by the multiplying the production in hay- value, gives 2 per ct, which increase is found only in the employment of the half-decomposed manure, but agrees not either on the undecomposed, which increases itself more, or on the wholly-decomposed manure, which diminishes 30 percent, from the half-decomposed state fixed on. Consequently, according to the Table heretofore given (see 31. p. 84), if we should employ the whole product yielded for the forming of manure, on 100 lbs. of employed manure, would be given In A. VIII., 215 lbs. of manure, In A. V., 99 lbs. of manure, B. II., 90 A. III., 87 •' A. IV., 80 " " « A. I., 70 " « « A. IX., 61 » " "6. The effect of the mixture of the fluid and other manure (marked as No. 5) on the clay soil, was five-fold, and on the bog-soil two-fold, compared with the effect on dry kinds of soil. " 7. The pulverized human excrement, as well as all other materials of manure in the form of powder, display a dissimilar greater effect, if they cover the soil, and are shadowed by the plants manured by them, than when they are employed in a snrialler mass, and on an uncovered surface. They are therefore mixed with other suitable materials which are cheaper, and which increase the mass and nutritiousness. Five or six schaffels (= 31 to 37 bushels) of human excrement, bone-dust, malt-dust, or ashes put on a morgen (= t of an acre), under favorable circumstances, that is, in moist weather, produce lucrative results, but in unfavorable, dry weather, will have little effect. If with the quantity mentioned, also be added 8 or 10 schaffels (about 50 to 62 bushels) of peat-dust, or plant-mud, or leached ashes, the surface would be better covered, the moisture longer retained, and therefore, under all circumstances a greater effect produced. B. III., 165 A. II., 159 A. VI., 147 B.I., 136 A. VII., 135 100 ECONOMY OF FARMING. " 8. The effect of folding is in exact proportion to the degree of the moisture of the soil and chmate. A part of the watered meadow of Hard, which had 3 years before a strong manuring in the fold, gave during a period, an increase of production of 66 cwt. of hay on a morgen, while the dry meadows at Schlcisheim, produced only 26 cwt. of the same description, and with equally great manuring. " 9. Maltings, if employed with good effect, must be used on grounds sufficiently moist to decompose them, or before being used, must be dissolved or reduced to powder, in which state, compared with their cost, they are profitable. " 10. Peat-dust, in regions where easily obtained, is a very cheap and most effica- cious means of manure, if suitably employed, protected against drying up, and joined with such other materials of manure as will continue it moist till decomposition, or if used for plants under the shadow of wliich it can remain moist long enough. " 11. That for manuring over a morgen, of all the materials of manure, gypsum required the least quantity, is evident, and gives occa.sion for the supposition, that its powder, especially in a moist atmosphere, lies among the young leaves and stalks, which produces, in proportion to the manure employed, the greatest effect. But because this is very dependent on foreign influences — and therefore this manure fre- quently remains without results — it is used within moderate limits, and only in the most needy quantity of 3, 3|, and at the highest, 4 metzen (nearly as many bushels) on a morgen. " 12. The compost employed in No. 30, consisted of the chief materials there named, and of horse-dung, in the proportion of the latter to the former of 1:5, with fluid mixture, with brick-kiln ashes and refuse. " 13. Manuring in holes, directly on the seed, as was the case with the potatoes, exceeds in efficacy all other kinds of manuring. A cubic foot of the m.anure, accord- ing to the size of the seed and the efficacy of the manure, should be used for 100, 150, and at the highest. 200 holes ; and therefore, in 10,000 holes or plants for a mor-, gen (= 0,842 acre), there must be used at the above rate of 100 holes, 11 schaffels (= 68 T^j^^ bushels), at the rate of 150, 7.4 schaffels (= 46 bushels), and at the rate of 200 holes, 5.5 schaffels (= 34 bushels). Should now all the results of the obser- vations and experiments made concerning the effect of manure as its value be collected together, we shall be convinced that the amount of this value depends on a great variety of partly accidental, unavoidable circumstances, partly on the correct knowledge of the cheapest means of manuring, and mode of preparation and employ- ment of the same, and also on the character of the farmer. The jpositice value of manure, therefore, we vainly seek to ascertain, because the factors are not fixed quantities, and in raising them, it depends on the Avill of the person." In speaking of the duties of the Director of the Farm, Vol. III. p. 260, Veit also uses, with reference to this subject, language which applies well to our own country. " There is scarcely in general any circumstance of Land-Husbandry more out of suitable pro- portion than the great need of manure, owing to the little care used for its preparation and increase. This disproportion is the more striking, as everywhere there are op- portunities for increasing the amount, and the whole blame lies in a want of sufficient attention to this subject. As Schwertz remarks, that it is incredible how the Bel- gians with so little manure can manure so much land, so it is incredible how little land is manured with us with a proportionably greater quantity of cattle and mate- rials for the production of manure. From Schwertz, too, we further learn with what uncommon carefulness the Belgians collect all kinds of materials for the pro- duction of manure, in what estimation they hold manure, and how closely and accu- rately they know how to proportion and classify the nianuring-power of different kinds of manure. Such facts ought to make us ashamed and wake us up to a zeal- ous imitation. " The most admirable talent of the Director (farmer) consists in this, to collect all the materials of manure, and to cause them to be prepared partly alone and partly by the suitable mixture into a manure which shall be most suitable to be employed in the various kinds of culture, and thus to increase the quantity of manure. A director who has a proper sense of the importance of these things, v.'ill not leave disregarded whatever will better or increase the manure, and will so direct and employ his work- men as to seek out and use whatever materials he can obtain. And thus he will leave no day to pass over in which he will not give a thought to the question, by what means a higher value can be imparted to it, and whether the materials for its manufacture are employed to the greatest advantage." — Tr.] ECONOMY OF FARMING. 10| 3. now GREAT MUST BE THE NUMBER OF CATTLE ON A FARM TO AID FN THE PRODUC- TION OF MANURE ? 1. In every farm-husbandry (Acker-wirthschaft) beasts are necessary for labor ; and because the manure which these yield, is not sufficient to supply the necessity of the field, we have also so many other beasts — cattle kept for manure, &c. (Nutsvieh) — in order thus to supply the defi- ciency of manure. 2. How much manure each head of working-cattle will yield, must, therefore, first be sought, before we can proceed to the answer of the second question : How much one head of cattle, kept for manure, will give, and how many of such cattle must be kept ? S. But because cattle, kept for labor and various other uses, are large or small, well or ill-fed, either constantly foddered in the stall or pastured, sometimes a greater, sometimes a smaller part of the year ; and because sometimes they are littered profusely, and sometimes only sparingly, and the manure is suffered more or less to rot before it is brought into the field ; therefore the weight of manure, which one head of cattle of the same kind yields in the farm, varies according to the difference of these circumstances. To the different circumstances above mentioned must it be ascribed, that the beasts yield sometimes more, sometimes less manure, and that even in the same farm, of the same number of beasts, not always an equal weight of manure is obtained. Mayer, in his Estimates tor Farms, reckons that one cow, — which weighs live-weight 350 lbs., and is pastured 6 months, during which time she is only every night brought to the stall, and for 6 months in the winter is fed and littered daily with 10^ lbs. of strav/ and 5^: lbs. of hay, — will yield 5| 4spanned (or 2 yoked) cardoads, at 1746 lbs., or 10.039 lbs. of manure. If the cow weighs 525 lbs. live-weight and is supplied in the winter w^ith IO5 lbs. of straw and 13^ lbs. of hay, she will give 7.39 cartloads, or 13,002 lbs. of manure; and if she weighs 700 lbs. live-weight, Hnd for winter-fodder has 14.8 lbs. of straw and 13^ lbs, of hay, she will yield 8.8 cartloads = 15,364 lbs. of manure. Working-oxen give, in the same circumstances, less manure, as, on account of labor in the field, they are absent from the stall. Sheep usually pasture the greatest part of the year; they are often scarcely more tiian 3—4 months in the stall. According to this time, according to their size, fodder, and litter, we reckon sometimes more, sometimes less manure. Hube found that one sheep in 150 days of winter, gave 12^ Rhenish cubic feet (about the same Enghsh)of manure. Mayer reckons for one sheep daily, 3-1 lbs. of manure ; according to him one sheep produces in 135 days of winter fodder, 472,5 lbs. of manure. With swine, the quantity of manure is given as variously ; sometimes it is thought that one single yoked cartload, sometimes two, may be obtained from one animal. I had on my farm. 3 horses, 12 — 15 cows, 3 — 5 heifers, 3 sows, with their progeny. If I reckon a horse equal to a cow, as respects the production of manure, the young cattle, according to the need of fodder, and 5 one-year swine, equal to one cow, 1 have thus given tlie proportion of the animals. One cow on an average weighs 700 to 800 lbs. hve weight. They were always foddered in the stalls, and only go on the meadows and clover-fields to feed on the after-crop of grass, from the 15th of Sep- tember to the end of October, at which time also they are every morning, noon, and evening brought a while to the stalls. They were well but only moderately littered. Of these beasts I had in the course of years by no means an equal yearly amount of manure from a head ; because they were not always equally littered, and because the people, one year when there was a surplus of clover, foddered them very abun- dantly, and in dry years practised more economy. I had of one cow. or of cattle re- duced thus, in the lowest case 12, in the best 14 two-yoked cardoads of half-rotted manure; each cartload reckoned at 12 cwt., therefore from 144 to 188 cwt. a year. 4. Because the amount of the weight of manure which one head of cattle yields, varies according to the difference of these circumstances ; so in 102 ECONOMY OF FARMING, general it can in no wise be determined how great the number of head of cattle to be kept for manure, &ic, (Nutsthiere) , must be, by which the manure required may be produced. 5. Should a head of cattle yield a certain mass of manure in the stall, so there must be voided a certain quantity of excrement which is mixed with a certain quantity of litter. But as the weight of the excrements stands in an equal proportion with the weight of the given fodder ; so will a person obtain only as much manure as he employs fodder and litter in the stalls, and while the beasts remain in the same. If the beasts are pastured, then their production of manure is to be reckoned according to the proportion of time in which they are brought up into the stalls. [Veit quotes Vol. I. p. 287. from an average of estimates of his own, and of Block, the following result, as exhibiting the production of manure from different kinds of fodder, and with different animals. Of one lb. of Horse. Cattle. Sheep. 1. Usual meadow hay, . . . 1.50 2.00 1.25 2. Straw-fodder .... 1.40 1.90 1.20 3. Grass and clover in a green state, 0.40 0.60 0.37 . „ , , , , + VI S Potatoes, 0.50 0.70 0.25 4. Roots ana knob-vegetables, ^ ^^^^.^^ ^^^ ^ ^^ 0 3^ 5. Grain, 1.50 2.00 1 00 6. Straw litter, 1.70 2.20 1.37 But should the materials for fodder be reduced to hay-value, they would give, ia manure on one lb. of hay-value. When 100 lbs. of hay are equal to Horses. Cattle. Sheep. 1. Usual meadow hay, . . .100 1.50 2.00 1.25 2. Straw fodder, ... 200 2.80 3.80 2.00 3. Grass and clover in a green state, . 450 1.80 270 1.50 . „ , 11V . ui < Potatoes, 200 1.00 1.40 0.74 4. Roots and knob vegetables : ^ turnips, 300 1.05 1.50 0.75 5. Of grain, . . . .50 0.75 0.90 O.CO By which it appears that of 1 lb. of hay, one head of cattle yields 2 lbs , one horse 1.4 lbs. and one sheep 1 .2 lbs. of manure. If, therefore, the articles of food be reduced to hay-value, as they may be by the tables heretofore given, the multiplier may be easily used, as respects either the horse or a head of cattle or a sheep." — Tk.] 6. In order to compute accurately beforehand the mass of manure, there- fore, we must know how much a working animal, or one kept for manure, &tc., consumes in a day ; how much litter is given out ; how the weight of the fodder eaten is proportioned to the weight of dung ; and how great the loss of weight in dung and litter may be by putrefaction. 7. But because only that manure is at the free disposal of the farmer which is obtained in the stalls, so regard must be had to the time in which the beasts are brought into the stalls, and we must deduct for those beasts for labor, which are foddered in the stalls, that time which they spend out of them on account of being employed in labor, as well as for those which are pastured, and so fed out of the stalls, that time of the increase of manure must be counted in which, in the summer, they are kept in the stalls. How much fodder beasts need in proportion to their size and use, is given in the Special Rearing of cattle. The consumption of litter must be governed by the quan- tity and kind of fodder, and partly by the surplus which one has of these materials, and the space which each particular beast occupies; it is sometimes 3, sometimes 6 lbs. of straw. [On the subjects embraced in some of the immediately preceding paragraphs, I will also introduce some other computations of Veit which may farther aid in the labor ECONOMY OF FARMING. 103 of estimating the cost of manure, and the methods of its economical production. In Vol. III. p. 1147, he observes: " It is known that the dry fodder and the juicy, estimated according to hay-value, with htter employed for the cattle, for manure in general, will give double the weight in moderately decomposed manure. For the production of 19,800 cwt. of manure, there are therefore necessary, of materials for the manufacture of manure, 9900 cwtj which may be obtained from the following weight of products : No. ofmor- gen. Material employed for making manure. Hay value Straw (a morgen Hay. of Orain. . and Total. =5-6 acre. juicy fod'r. stalks. cwt. cwt. ewt. cwt cwt ( for fodder, 138 138 Potatoes, } hay val. slops, 671 671 t stalks, dry, 50 400 400 Winter rape, 20 400 400 Winter wheat, 20 400 400 Winter rye. 20 400 400 Summer rye, 40 67.2 720 787 Barley, 20 260 260 Oats, 20 136 300 436 Peas, 20 340 340 Beets, 10 617 80 697 After grain, 18.2 18.2 Red clover, 20 800 800 a u 20 400 400 Luzerne, 10 450 450 Meadow thrice mowed, 60 2160 2160 " twice " 117 2340 2340 " once " 70 200 The hay value of fodder for swine, of sour milk 557 6630 1626 222 3300 11777 slops, then the weight of the oil cake, bran and barley scum, may be reckoned at. 370 12147 Multiply 12,147 by 2 = 24,294, and there remains, after deducting the loss of dung on the meadows, at least 22,000 cwt therefore more than was required. The following table of the consumption of fodder and straw or materials for the production of manure for 10 working-horses, may also be useful in its relation to this general subject : 1. Oats, 70 schaffel (= 433^ bushels), at 180 lbs. 2. Rye, 5 " (= 31 " ) " 280 « 3. Hay. 12 lbs. per head a day 4. Hacksel of hay per day, 12 lbs. (( c( (( 5 " . 5. Straw-Utter, at 3 lbs. per head a day On this allow 115 days of rest 250 " of labor = 12,600 lbs. = 1,400 " . 45,800 « 36,500 « 18.250 « 10,950 « 125,500 38,910x2= 84,590 2 =77,820 lbs. manure After deducting ^ of loss while at labor There remains in manure 169,180 '- 56,393 " Total, 190,607 164 ECONOMY OF FARMING. Veit has also furnished us with estimates on this subject, relating to cattle of various breeds, ages and sizes. One of them only will here be given. It will be observed that in this as in the former example the consumption of fodder is multi- plied by two to give the weight of manure, which is according to his previous remarks as to the proportion between them. Need of Fodder and Litter for 12 Working- Cattle^ of a large kind. 1. For the Winter period, from 1st of October to the end of May, 8 months — or 245 days. Hacksel, hay 12 lbs. = 35,000 lbs. " straw 9 " = 26,244 " Hay at 6 lbs. per head daily 17,496 " Refuse of potatoes from potato-distillery at 36 maas = 104,976 maas = 1,450 gallons = 163 cwt. of hay-value. 2. For the Summer-period, for 122 days. Green fodder 90 lbs. per head daily = 20 lbs. of hay value = 29,280 lbs. Hay 6 lbs. = 8,784 lbs. 3. Through the whole year. After-grain 3 schaffels = 18| bushels at 260 lbs. = 780 lbs. Summer-rye 3 " = " « « 280 « = 840 « Straw-litter at 3^ lbs. per head a day 15,324 Totals. Grain 16.20 cwt. Hay 905.60 « Hay-value of juicy fodder 163.00 " Straw-fodder 262.44 " Straw-litter 153.24 « 1500.48 " On this allow 135 days of rest 527 cvtX. X 2— 1,054 cwt. manure. « 230 days of labor 973 " 2 1.946 After deducting ^ loss while employed in labor 649 cwt. There remains of manure 1,297 cwt. manure. Add to this of horses 1,907 " Total . 4,258 *' By means of cattle kept for manure, therefore, to hold its own must be produced 15,542 " in order to gain the above-shown need of manure of 19,800 " Need of fodder and litter for 800 Sheep, i. e. 758 grown, and lambs equal to 42. 1. For the Winter period from 1st November to middle of April, through 165 days. Hay 2,000 cwt. Beets 1400 cwt. in hay-value . . . 466 Straw-fodder 300 After-grain 2 schaffels = 12^ bushels at 260 lbs. 5.2 Oats 6 schaffels = 37 bushels at 180 lbs. . 10.8 Straw-litter at 0.3 lbs. per head daily 396 3,178X2=6,356 cwt. of manure. For the Summer period, from the middle of April to the end of October, therefore for 200 days, the sheep must be kept on hired pasture. ECONOMY OF FARMING. 105 For 10 fattening- Oxen, to be fed according- to the e.vampleofthe working-oxen above given, la \st of November. From 1st of November to the end of April, through 6 months of fattening. Hacksei, of 20 lbs. of hay per head daily on an average 360 cwt. " 6 " straw . . . 108 " Rye 16 schatfels = nearly 100 bushels, at 280 lbs. 48 8 " Steamed potatoes 42 schanels=261^ bushels in hay value 63 " Beet-roots 450 cwt. in hay value . . . 151 " " leaves 400 " " . . . 80 " Distill, slops 72,000 maas in hay-value at 6.42 maas 112 Straw-litter at 5 lbs. per day for a head . . 90 (C 1009 2 2018 (( For 40 Milch Kine, For the Winter period, from 1st of October to the end of May — for 245 days. Hacksei 12 lbs. of hay per head daily . . 1,176 cwt. " 6 " straw " " . . 588 " Slops, 24 maas per day " 235,200 maas " in hay value at 6.42 maas . . . 566 " Oil-cake . . . . . . 3.5 " For the Summer period, from June 1st to the end of September — 120 days. Green clover in hay-valiie 18 lbs. per head daily 864 cwt. Straw-litter at 5 lbs. per head, therefore in the whole through the year .... 438 " Total 3435.5 " 2 6871.0 "manure. For 17 Swine, For the Winter period, from middle of October to the end of April, through 180 days. Distillery slops at 6| maas per head daily = 19,825 maas, in hay value at 6.42 maas 30.8 cwt Sour-milk at 5^ maas per head = 16,830 maas at hay value 16.8 " Steamed potatoes at 4.9 lbs. per head daily = 150 cwt, in " 75 " Bran of 30 schiiffels of rye and 20 schaffels of wheat . 18.8 " Beer-maltings of 5 schaffels of malt = 1250 lbs. in hay-value 4.16 '' Barley-scum 1 schaffel at 180 lbs 1.80 " For the Summer period, from the middle of April to the middle of October, for 185 days. Sour-milk at 5^ maas per head = 17,297 maas in hay-value 172 cwt. Pasture in hay-value per day for a head 4 lbs. . 126 " Milk for the pigs 5348 maas .... 33.4 " After-grain, 2 schaffels at 260 lbs. . . . . 5.2 " Straw-litter through the year .... 1037 " Total 739 " 2 1478 « Of this ^ of manure to be deducted for time of pasturing . 198 1280 "manure. 14 106 ECONOMY OF FARMING. SUMMARY. 10 12 working 800 10 fatten- 40 milch 17 horses. oxen. sheep. ing oxen. kine. swine Total. Hay and green fodder, in } hay-value, ^ cwt. cwt. cwt. cwt. cwt. cwt. cwt. 803 905.6 2000 360 2040 6108 Straw, .... 292 415.6 696 198 1026 103.7 2731 Oats, .... 126 10.8 136.8 Rye, .... 14 8.4 44.8 67.2 After-grain, 7.8 5.2 5.2 18.2 Potatoes, in hay-value, . 63 75 138 Beet-roots, " " 466 151 617 Do. leaves, « « 80 80 Bran 18.8 18.8 Slops, in hay-value. 163 112 366 30.8 671.8 Milk, in " 374 374 Mailings, " « 4.16 4.16 Barley-scum. 1.8 1.8 Oil-cake, 3.5 3.5 Pasture-fodder in hay-value. 1235 126 126 Total, . 1500.4 3178 1009 3435.5 739 11097 Hence of manure multi- > plied by two, \ After deducting |- of ma- ) 2470 3000 6356 2018 6871 1477 22194 nure during time of > 563 649 198 1410 labor and pasture, ) There remains of manure, 1907 2351 6356 2018 6871 1280 20784 The quantity of drink and of litter, by the different animals, are given by Veit in the Tables that follow : The quantity of water needed in proportion to the dry food. Quantity consumed in a day. 1 Proportion of water Living weight of Water in fodder in Hay. Winter. Summer. Winter. Summer. lbs. lbs. lbs. lbs. lbs. lbs Working horse, 1050 26 35 50 1.34 1.92 Working ox, 1000 24 55 70 2.29 2.91 Cow, .... 700 17 42 60 2.47 3.52 With some salt in the water, — — 55 3.25 Sheep, .... 70 1.8 2.5 3 1.38 2.0 In a day when salt was given, — in hay-value 3.0 —.6 1.66 — Swme, .... 140 4 16 20 4 5 The quantity of litter differs according to the different species of cattle, of the fodder, drink, and the longer or shorter time the beasts are kept up in the stall. For the most part, the proportion is according to the need of fodder, and as follows : At a daily On 100 lbs. hay-value There fore daily, in hay-value of straw-litter. In stall-feeding. In pasture or at work. lbs. lbs. lbs. lbs. Working horse. 30 10 —20 3 -6 3 —4 Working ox. 24 14.5—29 3.5—7 3.5 —4 Fattening ox, 30 16.6—30 5 —9 Milch cow, . 20 15 —20 3 —6 2 —3 Sheep, . . 2 10 —20 0.2—0.5 0.15—0.25 Swine, . . . 8 30 —40 2 -2 Tr.] ECONOMY OF FARMING. 107 4. WHAT PROPORTION DOES THE FODDER CONSUMED, TOGETHER WITH THE LITTER, BEAR TO THE WEIGHT OF THE MANURE? 1. All nourishment which the beasts take in a fluid or solid fonn suffers in the process of digestion a loss of weight, which is owing to the fact that a portion of the same is taken into the animal substance, and another portion is dissipated during these processes ; then the weight of the animal excre- ments and the litter used is diminished by the putrefaction which the ma- nure undergoes before it is carried into the field. On the other hand, the excrements obtain an increase by the animal liquids employed in their de- composition. 2. If one knew accurately the weight of the waste and increase, he would then know also the weight of fresh manure which will be produced by a given quantity of fodder and litter. 3. But because one can know as little of the mass which is taken up into the animal organization in solid substance, which may be dissolved in water, as of those parts which are dissipated during their passage through the organs of digestion, and by the later putrefaction on the dunghill ; therefore we must be contented with the conclusions which are indeed drawn from experience, but which, on account of their defectiveness, must only be considered an approximation to the truth. [Thaer says, " Beasts are to be viewed only as machines which, in proportion to their size, but especially to the mode of feeding, convert part of the fodder into their own animal substance, and the far greater part into manure, i. e., not only the dung, but also the urine, and the trodden Utter, and what passes off by evaporation. This manure is not merely from the offals of the fodder, but from the excretions of the ani- mal body. Whether the solid mass of the fodder consumed, even in a dry state, be- comes more or less in the excrements, is not known. Probably less, as the increase of the body, growth of wool, and production of milk requires a part of the same. Yet this is only small, and it is not yet decided whether the water drank, and the sub- stances filled with gases are so dispersed through the body as to form solid matter. The weight of manure from dry fodder by the moisture added to the excrements is certainly increased one half, viewing it in the state of moisture we use it." — Tr.] 4. The weight of the moist manure yet existing in the state of warm fer- mentation, is double the weight of the dry substance consumed, and of the litter employed in a proportionate quantity. The dry nutritious substance, or that which is reckoned by its dry weight, suffers in the bodies of beasts a considerable diminution by the loss of that which the absorb- ing vessels appropriate to themselves from it, and which with the excrements secre- tory of nutritious substances are so easily decomposed by the process of putrid fer- mentation, that in a short time its substance as well as its weight is very considerably diminished. If we therefore say that 100 lbs. of dry substance of consumed fodder with a proportionate quantity of litter gives 200 lbs. of manure, this must be under- stood of stall-manure, where the greatest amount of urine is mixed in part with solid excrements, or if they should be dissipated on the dunghill, would be replaced again by rain. The more raw — more recent — stall-manure is ; the more the beasts drink ; the more they take of juicy food ; the greater is the proportion of the weight of stall manure, compared with the weight of the fodder eaten ; wherefore there is more manure from horned cattle than from horses, and the least from sheep. The following experiments may serve as confirmations of these statements. Ge- ricke undertook, with 3 cows, seven experiments to ascertain how much of different nutritious matter such beasts ate, and also the water drank, how much milk they gave from it, and how great was the weight of their solid and liquid excrements. Every experiment lasted 7 days, with the exception of Nos. 4 and 5, and was tried with great accuracy. In the following table these experiments are collected without being reduced to Vienna weight, because it is only the proportions which are of value in any weight. 108 ECONOMY OF FARMING. •p./UlU»UO.) JrffJjJOJ Ajp aqi JO jqj![8A\ am 01 Jajiii am q;tM ounp aip JO iqaidM uojjBJodBAaXq ssoq J3HT[ aqi mrw Suiip aq'i JO iqiStaAV •pasn Jajii^ •paonpojd ^itj\[ c » »s Bjuaiuuadx^ jo -o^ o> o r- o t^ o» 10 CT) DJ t^ O M (M — " (N (N ^ C) 2 -< O X MO O «0 OS CM i- — . C>5 Tj« ■»*« CO CO (N C O O O O O M OS to '£) 10 00 O f- 10 SO 00 o> O) iO OJ CO OJ CO " — ' CJ 00 ' «0 T). (N C^ "5 ■<»< N —«■>»• 00 N 00 ^ rj< J- t~- lO «0 T« CO CO T}< yf mm IT) -^ t^ CO CO — C4 00 (N 05 «0 CO «3 (N 00 00 00 W (N -H -^ -H If U ^ dj :s o — is S g- ^ I. •"So o r- c T}< M DJ CM Hi I in Tf — 00 t^ — ^ CM CO '>*< 10 to l^ 00 Laborious, and in many respects instructive as are these experiments, yet they are also in many particulars defective. We can employ only the first five in conclusions ; since chaff-mixture (Hacksel or Hackerling), hay, grass, and clover must be considered as the natural kinds of fodder. With beets, Swedish turnips, and potatoes, one cannot exclusively fodder beasts with- out making them sick, which happened with beets, and would happen with other roots certainly if they were longer used. The proportional greater weight of stall- mixture, — since one ought not to call by name of manure this raw mass consisting of excrement and straw 8 days old, — from the dry fodder, compared with the grass, must be ascribed to the greater quantity of water which the beasts drank while eating chaff-mixture and hay, and the less evap- oration in March, compared with the stronger in June. Why they ate less of clover reduced to its dry weight, than of hay, and even of the chaft-mixture, most probably was owing to the clover being in full bloom, in which state the beasts eat it not so freely. Why, finally, the proportion of the dung, together with the litter, in the fod« ECONOMY OF FARMING. 109 dering of grass, if this is reduced to hay, is so small, whilst 2687 lbs. of grass, 561 lbs. of water, and 144 lbs. of htter, together 3392 lbs., produced only 1579 lbs. of ma- nure ; but 627 lbs. of hay, 2359 lbs. of water, with 105 lbs. of litter, together 3091 lbs., produced 1902 lbs of manure, owing to the difference of the dissimilar evaporation during the use of both means of foddering. At Schleisheim, in Bavaria, many ex- periments were made on a farm there, in order to ascertain the proportion between the fodder and the htter, and the manure. It is a disadvantage that the experiment made with milch-kine is so far useless as we know not determinately how much of the particular kinds of articles of fodder were given to the beasts ; since if the object is to find out the proportion of weight between the fodder which is given to the beasts, and their excrements, must one know the absolute weight of the former, because its relative worth compared with hay, if it were even ascertained with certainty, which is nowhere the case, is of no use, as we have already shown. The casually-tried experiment with horses, speaks always of hay and its substitutes, i. e. nourishing sub- stances, which are reduced to hay according to their relative value ; only with sheep no such mention is made of the reduction. With horned cattle, 760 lbs. of hay, straw fodder, and substitutes for hay, gave 2300 of fresh dung (proportion 100 : 230), which after 50 days lost -J- in weight; according to which 100 lbs. of fodder and litter gave 18S lbs. of fermented manure. With horses in the month of March, 620 lbs. of hay, straw fodder, and substitutes for hay, with 380 lbs. of straw litter, gave 1400 lbs. of fresh dung (proportion 100 : 140), which after 34 days lost in weight 0.48, according to which 100 lbs. of fodder and lit- ter gave only 75 lbs. of fermented manure. With sheep from 19th of February to 25th of April, 710 lbs. of fodder and 290 lbs. of litter gave, on the 27th of May, 800 lbs. of manure (proportion 100 to 80). The above mentioned differences between the weight of fodder and litter, and of the fermented manure, are explained by the different proportion of the straw htter mingled with the dung. With horned cattle the proportion of litter to hay, is as 5 to 15; with horses, as 11 to 18; with sheep, as 5 to 11. With horses and sheep the proportion of the litter to the fodder was clearly too great, on which account the ma- nure thus produced weighed less than the materials employed in preparing it; since apart of the same which was dissipated by the putrefaction, was not replaced by the email quantity of the liquid excrements ; with the horned cattle the proportion be- tween the Utter and fodder was more correct, and therefore the results agreed more with those before quoted. Mayer, who deserves the highest praise on account of his estimates of the propor- tions of husbandry, in his work concerning the division of a community (P. III. 69) first gave importance to the method of reckoning the gain of manure from the weight of the fodder and litter employed. He proposed to multiply the consumed fodder and straw litter by 2.7, but the hay, of which the body is more assimilated, by 1.8. Con- sequently on these rules, from 70 lbs. of straw, and 30 lbs. of hay, we should have 189-1-54 = 243 lbs. of manure, but from 30 lbs. of straw and 70 lbs. of hay, only 81 -f- 126 = 207 lbs., and therefore-^ less, which appears beforehand in the highest degree improbable, and by experiment is proved incorrect. The divisors for root- vegetables, are with him from 2.1 to 2.8, but with potatoes, 1.3. 100 lbs. of potatoes which contain somewhat more than 28 lbs. of dry substance would therefore give 77 lbs. of manure, while, according to our statements, they yield only 56 lbs. The grains finally he would multiply by 3 — 3.7. Thaer has frequently quoted this subject in his Annals, and in the first Volume of his Rationellen Landwirthschaft, p. 258, as well as in his History of the husbandrj' of MOgelin, p. 166. He there maintains that we must multiply the hay foddered out and the amount of straw-litter by 2.3, if we would know the weight of manure gained. The juicy plants for fodder he would first reduce to their hay-value ; ac- cording to which, 100 lbs. of hay are equal to 200 lbs. of potatoes, 460 of beets, 350 of cabbage-turnips, 525 of water- turnips, 266 of carrots, 600 of white cabbage, 90 of young clover-hay, 90 of vetch-hay, 90 of luzerne and sainfoin, and then would give the manure in this proportion, i. e. 200 lbs. of potatoes, or 256 lbs. of turnips, or 100 lbs. of hay. would give an equal quantity of manure. Mayer is inconsistent with himself when he advises us to multiply hay by 1.8, and grain by 3, in order to ascertain the amount of manure ; since if the physical system of beasts absorb more from hay than from straw, and hay yields less manure according to its weight than straw, there- fore, this must be much more true as respects the grains which are so much more nutritive than hay. Thaer is of the same opinion with Mayer, and believes that a horse in a great measure fed on grain would yield not fuUy but nearly as much ma-^ 110 ECONOMY OF FARMING. nure as if he was fed on hay only, and sets it at double the weight. According to him. it is the same whether we give a horse 25 lbs. of hay. or 10 lbs. of oats and 5 lbs. of hay ; and 25 lbs. of hay or 15 lbs. of dry nutritious substance give the same weight in excrements. But if 10 lbs. of oats will give a beast as much nutritious substance in 24 hours as 20 lbs. of hay, then must there be not only in an absolute but also in a relative respect a much less weight of excrement than from 20 lbs. of hay. That the excre- ments of a beast fed with grain are of greater efficacy as manure, we have already shown ; but since here the only object is to ascertain the quantity of manure from the quantity of fodder and litter, therefore we cannot now have regard to that point Count d'Angeville (Mogl. Annual, Vol. I.) says that with a very small littering 100 lbs. of hay give 216 lbs. of fresh manure, which is nearly the same I have supposed. But because the object is to know the weight of manure which has lain in heaps for 3 or 4 months compared with the consumed materials of fodder and litter ; therefore it will not be too small to reckon 100 parts of fodder and Utter against 200 parts ol half-rotten manure. Finally, I must here observe, that, in the first edition of this work, I have multiplied the materials of fodder and litter by 2.17, in order to compute the weight of manure ; and that in the following editions I have thrown away the fractional part of the multiplier, and taken the double weight of manure for the single in fodder and litter, which has been retained in the present edition, while I am always more convinced that we do best in this approximation of computing the manure, to reckon all the fodder^ be it of what description it may be, according- to its dry weight, to add to it the litter and then multiply by two the collective sjim. [Thaer's views have been alluded to above, by our Author. He has given a great variety of tables and deductions, which are found in his first volume, and after- wards modified in the Introduction to the second volume of his work heretofore quoted. It may be well to subjoin a few extracts from these, as they contain valua- ble information in reference to the production of manure from the various crops pro- duced. It is not supposed indeed that the products will exactly correspond to those in our own country, though the principles of computation may answer. Vol. I., p. 177, he thus speaks of the proportions of grain, straw, and manure: " As the result of many experiments, it is found that the proportion of grain to the straw varies — In Rye, from 38—42 : lOf V^heat, " 48—52 : lOl Barley, •* 62—64 : 10( Oats, " 60—62 : 100 " W^ith peas, it is more undetermined, and the addition of the pods, as is well known, is in very different proportions to the stalk. Count Podewill found it to be as 5 to 21. I believe that on the whole it should be given as 35 to 100, as peas are usually planted ; but it would be the surer way to reckon the straw of one yoke (= 1.422 acre) of peas at 4130 lbs. (== 3844 to an acre), while the product of straw in this fruit is usually much larger than of the grain. It is the same with respect to vetches. If therefore 1 metzen (= 1.69 bushels) of good rye, somewhat heaped, weight 88 1 lbs. (= 1 bushel at 52 lbs.), and the grain on an average is as 40 : 100 ; then one yoke (= 1.422 acre) of rye will give. At 3 metzen (= 5 bushels), product 4 (( H (( (C 887 « u 2039 (( 5 u H "nearly" 1108 u u 2549 (( 6 «l 10 li (C 1330 (( (( 3059 (( 7 it 11^ u « 1552 (( (( 3569 (( 8 (( 13^ (( <( 1773 ii i( 4078 « 9 « 15A (( C( 1995 (C {( 4588 (( 10 « 17 (( « 2217 it 111. B. 2. We carry out, for example, on one yoke of plough-land, 300 cwt. of manure, worth 24 metzen of rye. On this field we cultivate maize, barley, clover, and wheat; we must, therefore, charge to maize — as it yields the greatest product and consumes the whole animal part of the stall-manure, and a great portion also of the vegetable — ^ of the manure; and the more so because, by hoeing and hiUing, much is also dissipated. To the barley must be charged ^ ; to the clover ^ ; and to the wheat T^ ; therefore, the manure is charged : 1st year, the value of 12 metzen of rye. 2nd „ „ 6 3rd „ „ 3 4th „ „ 1^ Did only -fV of the manure remain after the clover, then would the wheat yield a very scanty harvest ; but, as the clover furnishes an increase of manure by it, roots, which in the foregoing case equal 0.20 of the original quantity of manure, therefore the wheat has nutriment enough in the soil. But, for this reason, the manure-account stands differently, since to clover only ^ of the portion of mannre consumed by it as above ought to be charged, but to the v/heat crop that follows 132 ECONOMY OF FARMING. must be charged, not only the portion already given for it, but also the newly-pro- duced increase of substance furnished by the clover roots, he manure account, therefore stands as follows : 1st year, to Maize, the value of 12 metzen of rye. 2nd " Barley, " . . 6 « 3rd " Clover, instead of 3 . . 1.5 « 4th Wheat \ ^^^ P^'-^^"" Y""'^ °'?"' ]*« \ 6.3 ( mcrease by clover-roots 4 8^ 25.8 But because the value of stall-manure is . . 24 '* " " clover-roots . . 4 " Total . . 28 " Therefore there remains in the soil, of power 2.2 metzen of rye. If we wish to keep the clover account exact, we must credit its roots, in value 4.8 metzen of rye, here charged to wheat. But if we cultivate wheat after maize, then barley and oats, the value of the manure of 24 metzen of grain must be divided, according to the above given proportion of ^, ^, ^^ -f^, among these four fruiis. 14. As the beasts are noiirlshed by the products of the field, which have been already reckoned for ground-rent ; so they cannot in this respect be charged with any thing but the interest of their own value and the cost of fodder and keeping. We must, indeed, consider the cattle as well as the field as a profit-bringing body. Should any one charge the interest of the cattle to the field, then the use of the cattle must be disproportionally raised above the cost of the cultivation of the field. 15. Therefore we must credit to it not only the labor, but also all that it yields in animal products, and what it gains in the numbers and in- creased value of particular portions. How the cash value of the manure is reckoned see § III. B. 2. 16. Should an account be adopted, setting in the clearest light every particular branch of farming, then must every labor and outlay be credited to that which it produces, and charged to that which receives it. 17. Every branch of husbandry, and all the powei*s and means of aid belonging to the management of the farm must, for this purpose, be con- sidered as so many persons, with whom the debt and credit-account is kept. This mode of keeping accounts is called the Double-entry Book-keeping, because every receipt or expenditure is twice exhibited, i. e., it is credited to him who per- forms the labor, and charged to him who receives it. 18. But, because this mode of keeping accounts is much more extended than usual, it only repays the trouble, he, when the farm is large and widely connected, and where, without it, one retains one of his own men for the Farm-accounts ; in small or very simple farms, it is sufficient if the chief object of the Farm-account is attained. In Farm Accounts there should be the following books: one for Cas^-receipts and expenditures, the Cash Journal; one for receipts and expenditures in vegetable products, the Granary and Barn Journal ; one for animal products, the Cattle Journal ; and one for th(f labor of men and beasts, the Labor Journal. By these the Single-entrj'^ Farm-accounts may be formed by the opposite entries of Expenditures and Receipts ; but in the Double-entry Book-keeping we form from these books — first, the different Special-accounts, pro or contra, the Accounts of the diflerent parts of the husbandry, from which is seen their gain or loss ; and by bringing together these accounts the balance shows the profit or loss on the whole farm. On this subject Bee Thaer's Annals of Agriculture, Vol. IV. p. 477, also his Annals of Improve- ments, Vol. III. p. 50, and Vol. I. of his Rationallen Land-wirthschaft THE END TABLES OF MEASURES AND WEIGHTS, OSED BY DIFFERENT AUTHORS QUOTED IN THIS WORK. Burger and Thaer use the Austrian measures. Veit uses the Bavarian measures, and ScHWKKTz the French. In the reductions, in the following sections, fractions have Kometinies been disregarded AUSTRIAN. LONG MEASURE. 1 foot = 12 inches = 12 lines each, and = 1.037 English feet 1 k I after is about 6 feet. 1 mile is about 4^ miles, English. SQUARE MEASURE. 1 yoke [Joch] = 1600 square klafters, = 1.422 English acres. 1 square klafter is about 5 square yards. DRY MEASURE. 1 metzen = 16 maessl, = 0.211 of an English Quarter of 8 bushels, or 1.69 of an English bushel, or about 54 quarts. 1 maeesl = about 3 quarts. The metzen is also sometimes divided into 8ths, or 2 msessl. LIQUID MEASURE. 1 wine eimer = 40 maas : equal to about 12^ English gallons. 1 beer " = 42h " " « 13 " ' " I maas = 0.311 gallons, =2^ pints. WEIGHT. 1 ceiUner; or 100 lbs., = 123.4 lbs. English. I lb. contains 32 loths, about ^ an oz. each. B A VA R I A N LONG MEASURE. 1 foot = 12 inches of 12 lines each, = 0.957 English feet. 1 mile, about 4k miles English. SQUARE MEASURE. 1 morgen = 400 quadrat ruthen, or square rods, or 40,000 square feet, = 0.842, or about 5-6 of an English acre. DRY MEASURE. 1 schaeffel =-6 metzen = 4 quarters = 4 massl = 6.223 English bushels. 1 metzen = 1.037 English bushels. 1 quarter = about 8 quarts, or a peck, English. 1 maessl = about 2 quarts, English. LIQUID MEASURE. 1 eimer = 60 or 64 maas = about 14 or 15 gallons, English 1 maas = 0.235 gallon, or nearly 2 pints, English. WEIGHT. 1 centner, or 100 lbs. = 123.4 lbs. English. I lb. = 32 loths. 1 loth = about .} oz. English. MONEY. The German florin = 60 kreutzers, ia reckoned at about 48 cents. 1 kreutzer, about I of a cent 1 groschen, about 2 cents. FRENCH. SQUARE MEASURE. 1 hectare = 2.471, thus nearly 2§ English acres. DRY MEASURE. 1 hectolitre = 100 litres = 0.344 English quarters, or somewhat over 2f bushels. 1 litre = about If English pints. WEIGHT. 1 kilogram = 2.204, nearly 2\ lbs. English. The following tables of the Austrian yoke and Bavarian morgen, into English, is added, as these measures are of the most usual occurrence. Yokes. Acres. Morgen. Acres. 1 — 1.422 1 = 0.842 2 (( 2.844 2 t( 1.684 3 (( 4.266 3 it 2.526 4 (( 5.688 4 tt 3.368 5 (( 7.110 5 tt 4.210 6 (( 8.532 6 tt 5.052 7 (( 9.954 7 tt 5.894 8 (( 11.376 8 tt 6.736 9 (( 22.798 9 tt 7.578 10 (( 14.220 10 tt 8.420 20 (( 28.440 20 tt 16.840 30 (( 42.660 30 tt 25.260 40 ((' 56.880 40 tt 33.680 50 u 71.100 50 tt 42.100 60 n 85.320 60 tt 50.520 70 (( 99.540 70 It 58.940 80 (( 113.760 80 tt 67.360 90 t{ 127.980 90 tt 75.780 100 It 142 200 100 tt 84.200 1-2 {( 0.711 nearly 3-4 1-2 Cl 0.421 over 2-5 1-3 i( 0.474 (( 1-2 1-3 tt 0.280 ' ' 1-4 1-4 (t 0.355 over 1-3 1-4 l( 0.205 ♦ ' 1-5 1-5 (( 0.244 nearly 1-4 1-5 tt 0.168 ' ' 1-6 1-6 t( 0 237 (( 1-4 1-6 tt 0.140 ' ' 1-7 1-7 (( 0.203 over 1-5 1-7 tt 0.120 * ' 1-8 1-8 1( 0.177 (( 1-6 1-8 (t 0.105 ♦ ' 1-10 1-9 (( 0.158 (C 1-7 1-9 tt 0.093 ' ' 1-11 1-10 (t 0.142 t( 1-8 1-10 tt 0.084 ♦ ' 112 INDEX AwDERSoN Proctor — his mode of finding the weight of cattle, 35 Aniinal<: — loss of to the per centage of value, 43 — necessary for the cheapest management of the farm, 95 — need of fodder, litter and drink, for different animals, 104, 106. Artichokes — value of, as fodder for cows, 31. Ashes — proportion of, in plants, Table, 61. Bailet and Cullev, Messrs. — their views of the comparative value of horses or oxen, for labor, &;c. 44. p-irley — its absori)tion of nutritive matter, 73 — seed required, and product, 74, 75. Block, A. K. — his Table of equivalents of food, 30 — Table of solid substance in different kinds of food, 88. Bread — a species of, used for fodder Burger, J. — account of him, v. — his estimates of food for sheep, 13 — of men required to keep swine, &c., 15 — remarks on the use of cows and bulls for labor, 19 — on the food for horses, 23, 24 — of working oxen, 27 — of fattening oxen, 35. .35 — of ploughing, «fcc., 10 — of manure, &;c., 55 — of modes of husbandry, &,c, 117 — of direction of farms and accounts, 130 — 132. Capital — different kinds of, in husbandry, 130. Carrots — value of, as food for horses, 2o. Cary's gauge for finding the weiglit of cattle, 36. Cattle^how many can one man tend at pasture, or summer or winter foddering, U — modes of fattening, 16, 15 — modes of finding live weight of, 36 — food of, analysis. Table, 54 — kind of, lo be kept for manuie, 96— num- ber, 101 — weight of manure by one head of. Table, 103 — need of fodder and litter for. 104, 105. Clover — its great importance to enrich land, 71, 89 — seed required, and product,Tables, 74, 76. CuRWErt, Mr. — his experiments in feeding horses. 25 — his mode of finding the weight of cattle, &;c., 36. Dana, Dr. — his analysis of cow dung, 59. Day's work— in different kinds of labor, 16, 18,54 — cash value of, 54. Decandolle — his tlieory of tlic rotation of crops, 118. Depths of planting seed — experiments on, 78. Deputat — or allowance, what? 4. Dienstbotcn, Dicnstleute or domestics — how divided wages, how many needed? kinds of occupation fitted for, 2 Director or administrator of a farm — his duties, &;c., 128. Digffing — day's work, in what? 16. DouisLAS, Mr. — his mode of finding the weight of cattle, 36. Droifeld, or Dreifelder-wirthschaft, what? 3, 124. Drink — need of for different cattle, 106. Dung — of the cowandotlier animals, analysis of, 59, 60, Earths — power to take up water. Table, 65. Economy— rural ; the organization of the Iiousehold, 1— of Land husbandry, Thaer's definition of, 2. Egarten, Egarten-wirtlischaft — meaning of, 3, 117 — number of laborers needed in, 6 — when this mode of hus- bandry may be employed to advantage, 117. Ellsworth, Hon. H. L —his mode of fencing the prairies referred to, 19. Equivalents of food— taljles of, 13,29, 30, 31. Exhausting power of different grains, 73. Extensive mode of husbandry, what ? 3. Farm accounts — proper mode of keeping Ihrm, 130-132. Fattening of oxen, &:c.— remarks on modes of, 34, 35, 37, 38— progress, how judged of, 35— rapid the best, 38. Felder-wirthschaft— meaning of the term and when this mode of husbandry is desirable, 117.. Fences — advantages and disadvantages of, 18, 19. Flesh and tallow — how propoitioned, 40. Fodder— importance of a diversity of articles for, 3— conservation, how much needed daily, 23, 29— conservation and melioration, what ? 32— necessity of, how provided for, 23 — amount of consumed in fattening 39— re- sults of experiments in, 40- in wiiat its value consists, 54— in relation to manure, KE'-Tables ; consumption of, 103 — need of, for cattle, 104, 106— proportion of, with litter, to manure, 109, 111— proportion of plants for to plants for manure, 112. Frucht-folge, Frucht-wechsel — meaning of, 116. Frucht-wechsel-wirthschaf>— meaning of the term, and when this mode of husbandry should be employed, 117, 124 Furrows, and furrow-slices- length and breadth of, in ploughing, 45, 46, 48. Grain — proportion of to straw, 86— its relation to manure, 118. Hackcn— comparison of, to the plough, vfec, 50. Ilacksel- preparation of,&c., 11— as fodder for cattle, &c., 28, 39. Harrowing -horses better for than oxen ; amount in a day,&.c., 51. Harvesting — day's work in what? 18. Hay— quantity of, one man can bind, weigh out, &c., in a day— day's work in mowing, turning, spreading, load- ing and unloading, &c., 16. Horse, horses— Thaer's remarks on food and kepping of 20. 21— Veit's 21—23: Loudon's, 24— British Hus- bandry, Curwen's experiments, 25, 26; Stephens', 26— difference of expense of, and of oxen, &c., 34— comparative amount of labor from them ; preference of, in various things stated by Thaer,41 ; I)y Veit,42, 43 ; by Loudon, 43 ; by Bailey and Ci.lley,- teams of, how spanned, 44— number needed for a plough, 45_ptopoition of, to land in different countries, 52, 53— urine and dung of, analysed, 60. Household— meaning and object of in Land Husbandry, 1— Thaer and Veit's views ; outer and inner, what? 2 — outer, doctrine of, how divided ?3 Humus — what? composition, &c., Thaer's views, .56; Liebig and Sprengel's 57— its power of retaining warmth small ; proportion, plants draw it from the soil, 68— increase of depends on fertility of soil, &,c. 79 Husbandry— how to estimate the gain or loss of any proposed method of, 4. Income or interest on husbandry— how to be reckoned? 128. Indentured laborers, 10. lasurance on animals — rates on, in Germany, 43. INDEX. Intensive mode of luisbandry, what ? 3. Koppel-wirthschaft — meaning of 3 — wlien to be employed, 117. Labor — of men and beasts requisite, in what, 3 — advantages and disadvantages of different kinds of labor of men, 7, 8 — time of, 8 — beasts of, horses and oxen, 2(5,97 — of a horse, according to Prof. Leslie, 52. Laborers — food of, 5 — kind of, what, and what work adapted to them, amount, &.c. 7 — necessary for taking care of iiorscs or cattle, &c., 10— number of to 100 yokes of land, 52 — 54. Land Husbandry — in what it consists, 1. LiEBir. — his view of the action of humus on plants, 57 ; of the theory of rotation of crops, 118, 119 Loss of animals to per centage of value, what? 43. Lupines — experiments on, as a green-manure, 89. Luzerne — its gn-at importance to enrich tiie land, 71 — seed of required, and product 74 — 76. Maize or Indian corn — proper depth of planting it, 78. Manure — loading, &c.; number of heaps, spreading, &c., on an acre, 17 — what.' 55 — when obtained in the cheapest manner ; how much is needed to letain fields in a fruitful state? 62 — with reference to different soils and to ploughing, &c., 63, 64 — the relations of the different plants to the quality required, 69, 70 — of meadows, &c , 71 — mode of proportioning to the product, 76 — amount required to retain ihe capacity of production; consumption of 79 — Veits estimates of the need of 80 — 82 — conclusions 82, 83 — proportion- ate consumption of for different years ; division of plants, 83 — green, Schwert^ & Burger's Tables, 89 — weight of diff'erent kinds of, 90 — Prof. Coventry's estimate of production by land, 90, 91 — quantity voided, 9] — the mass to be replaced, how reckoned? aud proportion in different years, 92 — value of, how reckoned .' 96, 97 — amount produced from difi'crent animals, 97 — kinds of value. Table, 98 — observations on, 99, 100 — weight of from one head of cattle, &c., 101 — from different kinds of fodder; mode of computation, 102 — weight of, to foddei and litter, 107 — weight of moist to dry substance ; experiments on, Table 107, 108 — Mayer's mode of computing of, from Fodder ; Thaer's, 109, 110 ; Table of proportions, &c., Ill, 112. Milk — production of, from fodder employed. Table 108. Milking — how many cows can be milked in an hour, 11 — quality of first and last compared, 12. Oats — absorption of nutritive matter, 73— seed of required, and product, 74,75 — Einhoff's analysis of, 93. Oil — comparative time of burning of different kinds, 78. Oil-plants —what ; their relation to humus, 73— seed required, and product. Table 74, 75 — comparative amonnt of oil produced. Table 77. Oxen— fodder of, Burner's views, 27 — Veit's,28, 33— Thaer's, 29, 32— amount consumed, 31 — expense of for an ox in Bavaria, 33— and horses compared as to cost, &c., 34— fattening of. Burger's views, 34 — Veit's, 38 — 40- comparative amount of labor from them, &.C., 41— superiority of to horses, what? 42; Loudon's view, 43— Bailey & C'ulley's, 44 — teams of how spanned, 44— number of needed, a plough, 45— need of fodder and litter for, 104, 105. Pasture — of cattle, 11 — estimate of by Petri, 33. Petri— accouut of him -his Table of equivalents of food for sheep, 13 — estimates of food for sheep, 14, 15— of pasture, 32. Planting — day's work in, what? 17 — depths of; experiments, 78 — distance, 79. Plants — how nourished, 55— action of humus on, 57 — their need of humus, &c.,68 — do not require equal amonnt of manure to what they take up, 69 — pod- bearing require less manure, 70 — and derive only half their pro- ducts from the humus, 71,72 — grain, of the grass-kind, their need of manure, what? 72— how divided, respect- ing their consumption of manure, 83; Tables, 84, 85; Results, 85, 86; Thaer's remarks on this subject, 86 ; Schwertz's ; loss or gain of vegetables converted into manure, 87 ; Tables 88, 89— proportion of plants for sale to those for fodder, 112, 113— how must the order of succession be arranged so a? to secure the best result, 116— what plants will bear the most manure, 118. Plough— necessary ])0wer, experiments, &;c., 49, 50. Strain of draught in, 50. Ploughing — No. of men needed in 10— quantity of in 9 hours ; charges of beasts in; number of beasts, 45 — Thaer's estimate of quantity in a day, 47— Table of distance travelled, rates, &;c.,4S. Podewill Count— his experiments in fattening oxen, 34. Potatoes— value of as a fodder, 22, 25, 29. 31— their relation to the soil as exhausters, 73— seed of required and produce, 74, 75. Rich soil, what ? 57 Root— vegetables, their consumption of humus, 73— seed of required and product, 74, 75— Einhoff's analysis of, 93. Rotation of crops- theory respecting it, 118 — the proper order to be observed, 119 — examples of, 123, 124. Rye— experiments as to the depth of planting, 78— seed of required, and product, 74, 75. Sainfoin — its great importance to enrich land, 71 — seed of, required and product, 74, 75,76. ScHUBLER— his experiments on the qualities of earths or soils. Table 65, 67. ScHWERTZ — account of him, 7 — his views of— the consumption of manure, &c., by plants. Table 87, P9. Sheep — how many one shepherd can tend, allowance of food for, in winter or by day, or in summer foddering, 12 — Petri's estimate of food for, and variations of fodder, 14, 15— need of fodder and litter for, 104. Sorting— advantages of— 32 Soils- analysis of in Ohio, 57, 58— Thaer's Table on the value of, 59— Spreisgei's view of their affinity to manures, 54— power of, to take up water, or to retain it, 66, or to absorb it ; decrease of volume in drying, capacity for warmth, 57 — exhausting power of, 68 Sour meadows, what ? 20. Span— moaning of, 44. Sprengel— his analysis of soil, &c.,57, 58, 64. Stall-room— amount required by different cattle. Table 32. Strachmss- his rule for finding weight of cattle, 35. Straw- its value as fodder in the different grains, 28— proportion to grain, 86. Thaer— account of him, 7— his definition of land and husbandry, 2— description of Gesindc or Dienstboten, 4 — distinction !)etwoen price of wages and of work, 9— estimate of men for taking care of cattle, &c., 11 ; of sheep, 12— remarks on food for hoises, 20-estimate of food for cattle, 29 ; on fattening cattle, 37; supe- riority of horses to oxen, in what? 41— estimate of ploughing in a day, 47— Table of the value of soils, 59— his remarks on the consumption of manure by i)lants,86— hia hypothesis on incrc?.se of power, &c., opposed, 93— mode of con)puting manure from fodder used, 109. Turnips— weight of-distance, &c., product. Table 77. Turnus— meaning of the term, 116. Veit— account of him— his description of Land husbandry, &.C., 9 ; of Dienstboten or l)ienstleute,4,5 ; of thei. food, 5 ; estimate of the cost of a domestic, 7 ; comparison of diff"erent kinds of labor, 7, 8— principles to be adopted ; account of Frohncr. 90- estimate of men for horses, 10; of fowl for sheep, 13-, for many kinds of work, 16-18-remarks on tlie food of horses, 21—23 ; eciuivalent of plants for fodder. Table 29 ; amount of Btall-room, 32-remarks on. fattening cattle, .38 ; amount of fodder for, 39 ; results, 40— view of the supej^" ority of horses or oxen, 42 ; results ; rate of insurance, &c., 43 -estimates of the need of manure, °" —Table of fodder in relation to manure, 103 ; of fodder and litter, 104, 105 ; table of drink, &.C., 106. Wages— of domestics, 7— how affected, 8— a day's what? 9. Wochselwirthschaft— meaning of, 3, 117