FOOD CONSUMED BY AND EXCRETIONS OF A HORSE IN TWENTY-FOUR HOURS.
| Food. | Excretions. | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weight in a fresh state in grammes. | Weight in a fresh state in pounds. | Weight in a fresh state in grammes. | Weight in a fresh state in pounds. | |||||||
| Hay | 7,500 | 20lbs. | 0oz. | Excrements | 14,250 | 38lbs. | 2oz. | |||
| Oats | 2,270 | 6 | 1 | Urine | 1,330 | 3 | 7 | |||
| 9,770 | 26 | 1 | ||||||||
| Water | 16,000 | 42 | 10 | |||||||
| Total | 25,770 | 68 | 11 | Total | 15,580 | 41 | 9 | |||
Here it will be seen that the quantity of solid food given to the horse in the course of the 24 hours amounted only to 26 lbs.; whereas it is stated in the Report of the National Philanthropic Association, on the authority of the veterinary surgeon to the Life Guards, that the regulation horse rations in all cavalry regiments is 30 lbs. of solid food; viz., 10 lbs. of oats, 12 lbs. of hay, together with 8 lbs. of straw, for the horse to lie upon and munch at his leisure. “This quantity of solid food, with five gallons of water, is considered sufficient,” we are told, “for all regimental horses, who have but little work to perform, in comparison with the draught horses of the metropolis, many of which consume daily 35 lbs. and upwards of solid food, with at least six gallons of water.
“At a conference held with the secretary and professors of the Veterinary College in College-street, Camden-town,” continues the Report, “those gentlemen kindly undertook to institute a series of experiments in this department of equine physiology; the subject being one which interested themselves, professionally, as well as the council of the National Philanthropic Association. The experiments were carefully conducted under the superintendence of Professor Varnell. The food, drink, and voidances of several horses, kept in stable all day long, were separately weighed and measured; and the following were the results with an animal of medium size and sound health:—
“‘Royal Veterinary College,
Sept. 29, 1849.
| “‘Brown horse of middle size ate in 24 hours, of hay, 16lbs.; oats, 10lbs.; chaff, 4 lbs.; in all | 30 lbs. |
| Drank of water, in 24 hours, 6 gallons, or | 48 lbs. |
| Total | 78 lbs. |
| Voided in the form of fæces | 49 lbs. |
| Allowance for nutrition, supply of waste in system, perspiration, and urine | 29 lbs. |
(Signed)
“‘George Varnell,
“‘Demonstrator of Anatomy.’”
Here we find the excretions to be 11 lbs. more than those of the French horse experimented upon by M. Boussingault; but then the solid food given to the English horse was 4 lbs. more, and the liquid upwards of 7 lbs. extra.
We may then, perhaps, assume, without fear of erring, that the excrements voided by horses in the course of 24 hours, weigh, at the least, 45 lbs.
Hence the gross quantity of dung produced by the 7,300,000 horses which traverse the London streets in the course of the twelvemonth will be 7,300,000 × 45, or 328,500,000 lbs., which is upwards of 146,651 tons. But these horses cannot be said to be at work above six hours each day; we must, therefore, divide the above quantity by four, and thus we find that there are 36,662 tons of horse-dung annually dropped in the streets of London.