290 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



every point in conducting experiments. I have made this subject 

 a study for a great many years, and I have collected a large library 

 upon tin's subject. All the agricultural experiments 1 have been 

 able to lav hands on, I have brought together, and have examined 

 and compared ; and the more I study the published experiments, 

 the more I am in the dark in. regard to underlying principles. I 

 see fallacies that are of very great consequence. I can see omis- 

 sions in the statements which would lead me to suspect, that 

 proper precautions had not been taken. 



I:i regard to cultivation between the plats, I, perhaps, might 

 have stated the matter a little clearer. If you have spaces be- 

 tween the plats, they are there for the purpose of separating the 

 plats, and if you have something growing there, it is not a fair 

 separation. If weeds are allowed to grow, some of the spaces 

 would contain more than others. What I mean by cultivation is, 

 the space should be kept clean and free from weeds, and nothing 

 be allowed to grow upon them, because if you leave plants to grow 

 upon them, they will extend their roots to the plats and defraud 

 the crops by drawing the nourishment from them. 



In regard to putting up cattle and feeding: If the conclusions 

 I have drawn from our experiments are correct, the putting of the 

 same weights into pens would not answer the purpose. I might 

 have in one pen 500 pounds of small animals, and in another 500 

 pounds of animals considerably larger. But if you are taking the 

 larger class of stock, there might be 1,000 pounds in one pen, con- 

 sisting of five animals, and 1,000 pounds in another, consist- 

 ing of one animal. You could not compare them if there was 

 a difference in age and a diffcrenr-e in condition. The matter 

 of individual peculiarity of animals is a very "important one. I 

 found where I had two or three animals in a pen, there was no 

 increase. In another pen adjoining, where there was the same 

 number of animals, there was a remarkable increase. I said, 

 "why is this?" I weighed the animals separately, and found one 

 animal was losing and another gaining. If you want to know the 

 value of any feeding substance, it will not answer to take the 

 averages of the animals. The amount of food required to produce 

 a given increase is what we want, and I would have each animal's 

 food by itself, so that when that animal .made no return at all, I 

 would know it was out of condition and not a fit subject for 

 experiment, and throw it aside. There is another reason why I 

 would put animals in separate pens. They do much better. 



