The day book. [volume] (Norfolk, Va.) 1857-1867, 1865-10-09
MISCELLANEOUS.
Cost of BOardiag Horses.

We find in a New York contemporary a
statement of the cost of boarding horses by
the Third Avenue Railroad Company of that
city, which is said to have f'the best arranged,
best conducted and most systematically man.
aged stable in America" and by the adoption
OF whose system, it is asserted, and its appli-
cation to army horses, more than two millions
of dollars would be saved to the Government
per annum. The President of this company
is represented to be practical economist, and
he and bis assistants have experimental ex-
tensivsly to learn how to feed horses, so as to
keep up their efficiency for the very hard SER
vice of twenty miles day, and therefore what
they have learned and practiced may be taken
as valuable lesson to all horse owners We
quote from the statement referred to above
"The regular daily rations of the horse are :
sound corn-meal, II lbs; good clean hay,
mostly timothy, 10 lbs The hay is chaffed
in a cutting machine driven by horse power,
and wet and mixed with the meal and fed in
regular messes at regular times as nearly as
the service will permit. Of course there is
no waste of food and no using good hay for
bedding. That is made of rye straw, which
may average about three pounds day per
horse. The feed-boxes are carefully examined
after every feed, to see that all has been eaten
and to prevent any accumulation of sour or
damaged food, and if a horse is " off his feed"
to remove him at once to the hospital. The
stalls and feed-boxes are kept constantly as
clean as brushes, broom5 and water can make
them. This promotes economy.
Estimating the II lbs. of corn meal at pres
ent cost, 24c. per h., 384c, Is lbs. of hay at
be. per h., 194c.; making size. and count
ing bedding at 2ac., will make 60c. day as
the actual cost of keeping work-horses in New
York. The cost of attendance is reduced to
the lowest amount possible, by system and
convenience of arrangement, and hay, being
bought in large quantities, may not cost 14c.
per Id. in bulk, but probably does not fall
much short of that by the time it reaches the
feed-box, and the President of the Company
estimates the present average cost per day at
623c head for feeding horses in the most
economical manner possible. These hard
working horses are never fead on oats, and
they are fed more pounds of corn meal day
than they are hay. The relative proportion
is 56s per cent, of meal, and 435 per cent of
hay. l....a
Under this system of steady work, and,
what some would think bad feed, because
corn instead of oats is used, we suppose the
average duration of the horses is not less than
three years, and then they are not entirely
worn out, but go into some easier service
mostly farm work and are still valuable.
INJUSTICE TO WHITE TRooPs.---General
Thomas Benton, soldiers and Democratic can
didate for Governor of Iowa, in late speech,
after abiding to the capture of a battery by
his men, at the battle of Jenkins Ferry Ar
kansas, says ..,l
"What was the indignation of his men when
they saw in the printed letters of these cor
respondents glowing account of the bravery
of the colored troops in storning this battery,
and ignoring the very existence of his regi-
ment, who really captured it, by not even
mentioning its presence there. But this in
dignation was further increased, when, by
some ones orders, these very guns were sent
up to st. Louis, and exhibited at a soldiers
fair, with certain battle flags, as the trophies
of the bravery of certain colored troops, who
were said to have stormed and taken them at
the battle of Jenkins Ferry where, i'll fact,
there were no battle flags there, and the whole
work of taking the guns was done by his own
regiment, which was not even mentioned"