76 



EXPERIMENTAL FARMS. 



Table XVI. 

 Pen No. 7 contained 4 swine, grades by Tamworth sire and Berkshire Grade dam. 



Live weight 



Increase in weight 



Feed consumed 



do per lb. of increase in live weight 



Sep. 6. 



Lbs. 

 210 



Oct. 4. 



Lbs. 



270 



60 



209 



3-48 



Nov. 1. 



Lbs. 



352 



82 



230 



"2 -80 



Nov. 29. 



Lbs. 



452 



100 



34B 



3-46 



Totals. 



Lbs. 



242 



785 



3-24 



Table XVII. 

 Pen No. 8 contained 5 swine purebred, Improved Large Yorkshires. 



Sep. 6. 



Live weight. 



Increase in weight 



Feed consumed 



do per lb. of increase in live weight. 



Lbs. 

 241 



Oct. 4. 



Lbs. 



293 



52 



241 



4-63 



Nov. 1. 



Lbs. 



348 



55 



181 



3-29 



Nov. 29. 



Lds. 



411 



63 



242 



3-84 



Totals. 



Lbs. 



170 



664 



3-90 



Conclusions. From these tests with 36 swine, which were continued 15 weeks 

 and 12 weekt>, it appears that: — 



(1.) On the average, 3*83 lbs. of a mixture of barley, rye, frosted wheat (all 

 ground), and bran- were consumed per pound of increase in the live weight. 



The tests are being continued with the swine in these pens. 



PAET III.— THE EOBBRTSON MIXTURE FOE ENSILAGE. 



For a few years I have been seeking to find and put into the silo with Indian 

 corn, some other fodder plant or plants, which would furnish the quantity of albu- 

 minoids necessary to make a well-balanced ration in a form which would cost much 

 loss than ripened cereals or concentrated by-products, such as oil-meal, cotton-seed 

 meal or bran. Clovers and pease were tried with indifferent success, and the climb- 

 ing or pole beans have been grown with cornstalks for trellis without appreciable 

 advantage. It is desirable that ensilage should contain, besides the albuminoids and 

 cjirbo-hyd rates such as may be found in Indian corn and horse beans, a larger quan- 

 tity of fat than these plants contain. In a country with such a climate as prevails 

 in Canada during the winter, it seems advisable to provide a winter ration for cattle 

 containing a fairly large proportion of fat, as a bland, heat-producing part of a 

 lation in a cheap and palatable form. I venture to believe that we have now secured 

 that in the heads of sunflowers. 



The horse bean or small field bean (Faba vulgaris, variety equina) seems to meet 

 the case, so far as the albuminoids are concerned. This plant grows with a stiff, 

 erect stem of a quadrangular shape. It attains in Canada a height of from 3 feet to 

 6 feet. It bears pods from within 6 or 8 inches from the base of the stalk to near 

 its top. ■ The beans when ripened are of a grayish-brown colour, and of oblong round 

 shape, about ^-inch in long diameter and from f to a J-inch in short diameters. 

 Plants have carried ripened beans in the lower pods, while the topmost ones on the 

 same stalks were hardly out of bloom. 



