After an experiment of two years, the preceding ration being found insufficient, it was increased, by act of Congress, July 16, 1798, and was as follows:  beef one pound and a quarter, bread one pound two ounces; salt two quarts, vinegar four quarts, soap four pounds, and candles one and a half pounds to the hundred rations.  The preceding allowance was afterwards still further increased.

The present daily ration for the United States’ soldiers, is, as we learn from an advertisement of Captain Fulton, of the United States’ army, in a late number of the Richmond (Va.) Enquirer, as follows:  one and a quarter pounds of beef, one and three-sixteenths pounds of bread; and at the rate of eight quarts of beans, eight pounds of sugar, four pounds of coffee, two quarts of salt, four pounds of candles, and four pounds of soap, to every hundred rations.

We have before us the daily rations provided for the emigrating Ottawa Indians, two years since, and for the emigrating Cherokees last fall.  They were the same—­one pound of fresh beef, one pound of flour, &c.

The daily ration for the United States’ navy, is fourteen ounces of bread, half a pound of beef, six ounces of pork, three ounces of rice, three ounces of peas, one ounce of cheese, one ounce of sugar, half an ounce of tea, one-third of a gill molasses.

The daily ration in the British army is one and a quarter pounds of beef, one pound of bread, &c.

The daily ration in the French army is one pound of beef, one and a half pounds of bread, one pint of wine, &c.

The common daily ration for foot soldiers on the continent, is one pound of meat, and one and a half pounds of bread.

The sea ration among the Portuguese, has become the usual ration in the navies of European powers generally.  It is as follows:  “one and a half pounds of biscuit, one pound of salt meat, one pint of wine, with some dried fish and onions.”

PRISON RATIONS.—­Before giving the usual daily rations of food allowed to convicts, in the principal prisons in the United States, we will quote the testimony of the “American Prison Discipline Society,” which is as follows: 

“The common allowance of food in the penitentiaries, is equivalent to ONE POUND OF MEAT, ONE POUND OF BREAD, AND ONE POUND OF VEGETABLES PER DAY.  It varies a little from this in some of them, but it is generally equivalent to it.”  First Report of American Prison Discipline Society, page 13.

The daily ration of food to each convict, in the principal prisons in this country, is as follows: 

In the New Hampshire State Prison, one and a quarter pounds of meal, and fourteen ounces of beef, for breakfast and dinner; and for supper, a soup or porridge of potatos and beans, or peas, the quantity not limited.

In the Vermont prison, the convicts are allowed to eat as much as they wish.