34 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



and cheap manui'e as a resultant, well bred animals must be had. 

 These will come chiefly by female selections and the use of males 

 having desired qualities. 



Early Matuuity. 



Early beef is cheap beef. Young pork is cheap pork. If our 

 animal machines to make manure are not to do their best work we 

 should abandon this source of plant food in despair. Four year old 

 steers and eighteen months hogs would bankrupt this part of the 

 scheme and leave chemicals our onh- sufficient resource. No beef 

 be3'ond two to two and one-half years can be made at other than a 

 loss, or pork that is over six to eight months old. 



In three experiments covering 16 to 59 days, I found that calves 

 averaging 425 lbs. ate 3.3 part of live weight daily and required 

 10 lbs. of hay to make 1 lb. of growth. With 3-ounger calves 7.7 lbs. 

 have given 1 lb. of growth. With cattle averaging 750 lbs, in five 

 experiments 2.6 per cent, of live weight was eaten daily, and 19^ lbs. 

 of haj^ required to make 1 lb. of growth. With steers weighing 

 1000 to 1100 lbs. each, in eight experiments 2.16 per cent, of live 

 weight was eaten daih', and 26 lbs. of hay were required to make 

 1 lb. of growth ; the gain per day averaging .85 lbs. I fed two 

 calves in five periods of two weeks each. The amount of food for 

 first period was 20 quarts skim milk daily. After the first period it 

 required a constantly increasing amount of grain and hay to main- 

 tain the first growth made per day. Two pigs, on skim milk alone, 

 required for the first period of 28 days 9.8 quarts to make one pound 

 of gi*owth. At the end of the third period, when the}- were five 

 months old, it required 15 quarts to make one of growth. Last 

 summer it required more food to make a pound of growth on a 

 shote than on a pig in a set of comparative experiments. Professors 

 Stewart and Miles have found the same facts in their practice. The 

 large show j'ards of England and the Chicago live stock show have 

 brought out the same facts very prominently. In these shows it was 

 a universal result that the older an animal grew the less it grew per 

 da}'. As they grew older, of course the more food it required to 

 make a lessened growth. We sell a steer, sa}' at 1500 lbs. weight ; it 

 can be made in two winters and three summers, or two and one-half 

 years. Suppose it is made in four winters and five summers, or at 

 four and one-half years, then it has eaten maintenance fodder for 

 two winters more than is required. I find that it requires approxi- 



