Esteemed friend—I avail myself of a leisure hour to communicate my opinion on the subject on which we had some conversation when thou wast at my house. I allude to the importance of a more general use of mill feed for cattle in the neighbourhood of cities and towns, where hay almost always commands a high price.
We will, in the first place, view the subject at the cost of the respective articles in your market at this time.—Shorts can now be had at 30 cents per double bushel, weighing about 35 lbs.
| 100 bushels of shorts, weighing 3500 lbs. neat, will cost | D.30 00 |
| 3500 wt. of hay, at 25 dolls. per ton, will cost | 39 12 |
| Difference, | D. 9 12 |
Here there is a difference of $9, 12 cents, in favour of shorts, in a given weight of each; but I am quite confident, in my own opinion, that, taking an equal weight of each, there is double the sustenance in the shorts; and if this opinion be correct, it shows the following important result:
| 7000 lbs. of hay, at 25 dls. per ton, would cost | D.78 25 |
| While 3500 lbs. of shorts, in which there is equal if not greater nutriment, would cost only | 30 00 |
| Gain in favour of shorts, | D.48 25 |
But it appears to me there is another important saving would result to the farmer, from the introduction of mill feed. It would enable him to keep his stock of horses at a great deal less expense than he now keeps them. They would be more healthy, and all his hay might be saved for the horned cattle. By a very slight mixture of shorts with cut straw, or cut corn-stalks, it would make very palatable food; and the result in this method, compared with foddering on hay, would be as follows.
One hundred bushels of shorts would be ample to mix with two tons of straw, and two tons of stalks.
| The shorts, as heretofore stated, would cost | D.30 00 |
| 2 tons of wheat, barley, or oat straw, at 5 dolls. per ton, | 10 00 |
| The corn-stalks are now generally put in the barn-yard: allow what paid for hauling them, say D.2 50 per ton, | 5 00 |
| Allow also for trouble in cutting the straw and stalks, | 10 00 |
| 55 00 |
The Weight of the foregoing as follows, viz.
| The shorts, | 3500 | lbs. | |
| 2 tons of straw, | 4480 | ||
| 2 tons of stalks, | 4480 | ||
| 12,460 | lbs. |