THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



459 



may be found to eat it— such as the black or grey- 

 faced, or aged sheep or ewes. 



Within the last few months various manufactured 

 foods have been extensively advertised. It is 

 hardly necessary to warn my readers to be cautious 

 in the use of these mixtures. It is hardly possible 

 that by any mixture of different kinds of food an 

 advantage can be obtained by the consumer equal 

 to the large advance made on the commercial value 

 of the ingredients by the manufacturers. 



This conclusion is entirely supported by the 

 trials of Mr. J. B. Lawes {Jour. Roy, Agri. Soc, 

 vol. xix., p. 199); and, as he well remarks, these 

 foods frequently cost from 40s. to 50s. per cwt. 

 Taking the published average prices for the six 

 weeks ending July 17, 1859, one cwt. of the fol- 

 lowing stock-foods would cost as under : — 



One cwt. of s. d. 



Barley 8 4 



Oats 9 2 



Beans 9 4 



Peas 9 6 



Lentils 10 



Oilcake 10 



Linseed 16 6 



Hay 4 



The manufactured foods thus cost, weight for 

 weight, four or five times as much as the most nu- 

 tritive of the ordinary stock-food? on our farms. 



The following is the result, per cent., of an 

 analysis by Mr. Segelcke, of one of these foods : — 



Water 12-86 



Nitrogenous substance 15'51* 



Fatty matter 6-22 



Starch, sugar, ivc 55"97 



Woody fil)re 5*50 



Mineral matter 3 94 



* Nitrogen 2'45 per cent. 



Independently of the slight colouring with turmeric, 

 and flavouring with cumin, anise, or other of the 

 stimulating and carminative seeds used in cattle 

 medicine, which these foods frequently exhibit, the 

 constituents, as here stated, could be supplied by a 

 mixture of barley-meal with some of the legumi- 

 nous seeds enumerated, and oilcake or linseed. 

 Such a mixture, according to the prices quoted. 



could be prepared for about one-fourth the price of 

 the manufactured cattle-food. 



Mr. Lawes instituted some comparative experi- 

 ments with the food, the analysis of which has been 

 given. Six pigs were divided into lots of three 

 each. To lot No. 1 a mixture was given, composed 

 of 9 parts barley-meal and 1 part bran. To lot 

 No. 2 the same mixture of barley-meal and bran 

 was given, with the addition of 2 parts of the ma- 

 nufactured food to every 10 parts of the barley and 

 bran mixture. The food was in each case stirred 

 up with hot water, and both lots were allowed as 

 much of their respective foods as they chose to eat. 

 The results were as follows : — 



Lot 1. Lot 2. 



9 parts barley- The same and 2 

 meal, 1 part parts manufac- 

 bran. tured food. 



No. of pigs 3 3 



Duration of experiment 28 days. 28 days 

 Original weight 357 lbs. 355 lbs- 

 Final weight 496 ,, 494 ., 



Increase 139 ,, 139 ,, 



Total food consumed . . 547 ,, 556 ,, 



Food consumed to pro- 

 duce lOOIbs. of increase 393 ,, 400 ,, 

 It is quite evident from the result of the above 

 trials that our old friends, barley-meal and bran, 

 produced as nearly as possible (and at less than 

 one-fourth the cost) as much pork as the manu- 

 factured food. 



To the institutors of valuable experimental in- 

 quiries like these, the gratitude of the stock-owner 

 is justly due. It is utterly impossiWe that many 

 farmers can carry on such trials, with the scientific 

 and practical accuracy displayed by some of those 

 whose labours I have referred to, and whose valu- 

 able reports I have abridged in this paper. They 

 possess, too, the considerable advantage of being 

 the researches of practical farmers : men anxiously 

 labouring in search of truth ; not seeking to sup- 

 port preconceived theories, but wisely suspicious of 

 novel pretensions and improbable assertions ; and 

 as such I commend them to the careful study of 

 my readers, as they sit by the side of their own 

 warm fires and bright- eyed circles, on a cold De- 

 cember evening. 



STOCK-FEEDING. 



Having in the last article proved that a large amount 

 of the carbon of food escapes during respiration, it will 

 now be shewn how this carbon can be retained, aod in a 

 future article it will be shewn how this, as well as any 

 other portion of the carbon of food, can be converted 

 into flesh. 



It may be allowable before proceeding, to advert to a 

 few of the causes which have supported error, and ob- 



structed investigation, of which the following &re, 

 perhaps, the chief: 



That persons who have been schooled in, and taught 

 to believe, particular doctrines, without even being 

 allowed to investigate them ; who have had degrees and 

 honors conferred upon them, and who have long 

 publicly espoused the doctrines thus "crammed" into 

 them, are not, and cannot be expected to be suflSciently 



