REPORTS ON DIFFERENT DESCRIPTIONS OF FOOD FOR STOCK. 01 



quantity of butter was taken from 2 lbs. of cream, instead of 

 from 10 lbs. whole milk, as formerly, because we have always 

 got less variation from churning cream than from whole milk. 

 The milk given on the second last day of each period was put 

 up, each lot by itself, and 2 lbs. of pure cream taken for trial in 

 the churn. The difficulties previously experienced in taking 

 notes of the colour of the milk and butter, or of remembering 

 them from one period to another, with anything like exactness, 

 were got over by the construction of colour measures, which we 

 have dubbed "Lactoscope" and " Butterscope " respectively. 

 They consist of tin plates, 15 inches long and 3 inches broad, 

 and are divided into ten equal parts, which form an ascending- 

 scale, on the same principle as the ozonometer, from which, 

 indeed, we took the idea. They are painted in oil colours — No. 1 

 on the butterscope is pure white ; the others shade gradually to 

 No. 10, which is a deep rich yellow, copied from a sample of Irish 

 butter. The lactoscope was painted from samples of milk prepared 

 for the purpose by mixture with water or cream, as the case might 

 be. No. 5 is a good white, ordinary milk colour, and shades to No. 1 

 with a blue tint, and to No. 10, with a light cream. With both, 

 therefore, the higher the number given the richer is the colour. 



The kind and quantities of food given were the same as in the 

 former experiment,* with exception of the fodder, which during 

 the first period, January 4th till February 1st, was oat straw; 

 from February 1st till March 1st, it was bean straw, cut into 

 chaff ; and from March 1st till March 29th it was a mixture of 

 oat straw and bean straw (about half and half), also cut into 

 chaff. The animals were so fond of this mixed chaff, and ate it 

 with such relish, that we allowed lib. additional to each lot 

 at every meal, from the 6th of March. This formed an inte- 

 resting experiment of itself ; for on examining the tables it will 

 be found that, taking the animals as a whole, they gained much 

 in weight when on the bean straw alone, but, notwithstanding, 

 gave considerably less milk (which seems to indicate a high 

 fattening value for bean straw), and that when fed on the mix- 

 ture, they not only still continued to gain weight, but gave more 

 milk, taking everything into account, than either when on oat 

 straw alone or on bean straw alone (which show r s the import- 

 ance of a mixture of food). The rest of the results given were 

 obtained in the same manner as in the former experiment. 



Lots 1 and 2 calved in September 1864, and lots 3 and 4 early 

 in December. All had been together, and fed alike for a con- 

 siderable time. On January 4th, 1865, all the animals were 

 weighed, and lots 1 and 3 put on the swede diet, and lots 2 and 

 4 on the mangolds. On February 1st they were again weighed, 



* See Table I. p. 54. 



