192
ON THE LIVE-STOCK
will justify, if horses are regularly worked throughout the yearin the manner already mentioned ; perhaps a loss of one intwenty-five may not be far from the truth, which will consti-tute a charge of 4 per cent, on L. 90, the price of a pair ofhorses, or L. 3, 12s. yearly.
These several charges against a pair of horses may there-fore be stated as under:
Interest of purchase money, L. 4 10 0Annual decline in value, - 7 10 0
Insurance, - - 3 12 0
L. 15 12 0
which is at the rate of L. 7, 16s. per horse, or 6s. more thanhas been charged on these accounts, without any statementof particulars, by a very intelligent farmer, in a recent pub-lication # .
It must, however, be noticed, that this annual charge isonly applicable to horses that perform the labour that hasbeen stated. The farmers of the west of Scotland gain con-siderably upon the price of their horses, after having workedthem very moderately for two or three years ; and severalfarmers, even in the south-eastern counties, who sell theirhorses when about eight years old, frequently obtain suchprices as replace their capital, with interest, and all othercharges. But the demand for horses of that age dependsupon local circumstances, and can never be so extensive asmaterially to affect calculations intended to apply generallyto all cultivated districts.
§ 2. The next head of expence is their food. For aboutfour months in summer horses are fed on pastures, or onclover and rye-grass, and tares, cut green and brought hometo the stable or fold-yard. The latter method is by far themost economical and advantageous, and it is very generallyadopted in all the best cultivated counties. For other eight