"FROM THE PYRENEES TO THE CHANNEL." [To mr. Roma or
THE BraCreves."] Sin,—I have only just seen your issue of the 6th inst., con- taining a letter from "A Grammar School Boy et son Pere," in reference to the distance covered and the amount of food consumed per diem, by our mare ' Dolly' on her journey from the Pyrenees to the Channel. You have yourself kindly corrected the error with regard to the distance ; will you permit. me to correct that with regard to her consumption of oats P I have just weighed a litre of oats, and found it to be just 496 grammes, which would make the mare's allowance for the day 4,950 grammes, or just under 5 kilogrammes. For the sake of argument, let us call it exactly 5 kilos. Now," Whitaker " gives the equivalent to the kilo in pounds avoidnpois as 2-2046213, which would make 'Dolly's' allowance 11'02310661b. per diem, or 77'1617455 per week. This is rather different to your correspondent's calculation of 171 for the day, and 1191 for the week. Another way of comparing it with the English standard is to take the litre as 1'76077 pint, which, if your correspondents will take the trouble to work it out, they will find to be under 9 quarts a day,—a not extraordinary amount, I fancy, for a mare doing the work which Dolly' was doing. Of fresh green food she had very little indeed, only an occasional nibble by the road-side; nor of hay very much, as French hay is not generally to be trusted. I think her perfect health throughout is proof that she was not over-fed, as it is just as possible to injure a horse by over-feeding as by under-feeding.—I am, Sir, &c.,
R. Acraun-Taorrs.
Previous page
