152 Agkicvltukeontherhine.
tening, and the ox be supposed to sell for 12Z. 12.9.,
if of large size for slaughtering, the account between the
cost of stock holding and the return stands as follows :—∙
Cost of the calf . . £ O 10 O
Three years’ rearing .17 17
Three years at work . 18 1Ô 6
Three months’ fattening 3 0 0
£39 11 1
From which deduct—
Three years’ work 37Z. 10s.
Butcher’s price 12 O ------ 49 10 O
Profit . 10 O O
Besides six years’ dung at 1Z. 1 Os. 7 10 O
To realise this profit the price of fodder must be as low
as has been stated, and the ox must have full work, two
conditions that are not always realized, and for that rea-
son we have stated the main inducement to hold stock is
now in the dung gained.
In mountainous districts a Westcrwald ox that may be
bought for 5Z. at three years old, and which sells to
the butcher three years later for the same sum, will do
as much work as the heavier kind of cattle. An ox of
that breed requires but two-thirds of the fodder con-
sumed by the other, but gives only two-thirds of the
weight of dung. The balance is ultimately very much in
favour of the smaller animals under those circumstances.
A Westerwald cow weighing 500 lbs. may give in
three years
6400 lbs., or 1600 Prussian quarts of milk £. .s. d.
that sells in Siegen at 2d. per quart 13 6 8
Five years’dung at 1/. . . . 5 0 0
Three calves . . . . 110 0
Butcher’s price . . . . 5 0 0
Carried forward £ 24 16 8
AGRICULTURE ON TXIE RHINE. 153
Brought forward £ 24 16 8
From which deduct—
Cost of calf 10s.
Price at two years Hl.
Three years' feeding 12/. ---- £17 10 0
£ 7 6 8
The quantity of milk is reckoned low because the cow
may do light work 150 days in the year. The dung
valued at 8<√. per week adds 5Z. to the above sum, which
yields 50 per cent, on the total outlay ; whereas the large
draught-ox returns but 44 per cent, to the stock farmer.
The latter is the common peasants’ calculation.
On regaining the Rhine at Neuwied, the travelleι∙
greets with pleasure a milder climate and more genial
soil than his mountain excursion showed him. The large
basin presented by the valleys of the Wied and the
Moselle, with the depth of alluvial soil and the mild
climate of South Germany, which may there be said to
commence, do not, however, efface from his recollection
the skill and industry with which the meadows and
mountain sides of the vale of the Sicg are rendered pro-
ductive. Where nature does much for the farmer he is
apt to relax in his efforts, unless spurred by the demands
of a numerous population, and in the neighbourhood of
Neuwied and Coblentz no such pressure exists. The
fruit-trees covering the fields, and the vines scaling the
slopes of the hills, tell of other enjoyments than those at
the command of the Westphalian miners. There is,
however, no greater appearance of well-being, either in
the persons or in the dwellings of the inhabitants of the
Rhenish л illages than we left behind us in the less fa-
voured districts. In dress, the people, especially on the
left bank, are less neat, and their manners indicate less