106 



THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



I propose to call attention to a few facts connected with the 

 subject of feeding which have been established by the results 

 of my own experiments. 



The first question to consider is, what is the probable 

 amount of saleable increase, or meat, that may be calculated 

 upon as the produce of a given amount of ordinary good fat- 

 tening food ? The second is, what is the probable value of 

 the manure ? In offering a very few brief observations on 

 these two points, I shall not attempt here to give any exact 

 estimates of the comparative feeding properties of different 

 foods, but merely i.tate the average quantity of ordinary 

 mixed foods of recognised good quality, required to produce 

 a given amount of gross increase or of carcass weight. I 

 shall, however, give estimates of the comparative value 

 of the residue remaining for manure, from a given weight 

 of a number of the most important of our stock- foods. 



If feeding experiments are conducted over a sufficiently 

 long period of time— if they include a sufficiently largo 

 number of animals to neutralize the influence of individual 

 peculiarities, and if they are in all other respects performed 

 with sufficient care, results will be obtained from which 

 there would be but little deviation whenever the experiment 

 was repeated; Results so obtained may be expressed in a 

 few figures, which, for all the practical purposes of general 

 estimates, may be safely taken to represent the average 

 result of well managed stock-feeding. 



My own experiments show that oxen and sheep, fed libe- 

 rally upon good fattening food composed of a moderate pro- 

 portion of cake or corn, a little hay or straw chaff, together 

 with roots or other succulent food, will yield over a con- 

 siderable period of time, one part of iocrease in live weight, 

 for from eight to ten parts of dry substance supplied \a such 

 mixed food. The quantity of dry substance of food re- 

 quired will vary between these limits according to the exact 

 character of the food and other circumstances ; but nine 

 parts of dry substance of food, for one of increase in live- 

 weight, may be talien as a very fair average result for oxen 

 and sheep wild good food and good management. Tlie dry 

 substance of the fattening food of pigs contains much less 

 indigestible wooJy fibre, and a larger proportion of assimi- 

 lable constituents than that of oxen aud sheep, and in their 

 case one part of increase in live-weight should be obtained 

 from the consumption of four to five parts of dry substance 

 in their fattening food. By the "dry substance" of food is 

 meant that portion which would remain after driving off, by 

 a suitable heat, all the water which in their natural state 

 they contain. For practical purposes it may be assumed 

 that oil-cakes and foreign corn will, on the average, contain 

 rather less than one-seventh, and home-grown corn, hay,&c., 

 rather more than one-seventh of their weight of water, the 

 remainder being the so called " dry substance" oi the iood. 

 In the same sense the commoner sorts of turnips will, on the 

 average, contain more than nine-tenths, and sv/edes, man- 

 golds, and &c., less than nine-tenths of their weight 

 of water, the remainder being dry substance. Potatoes 

 consist of about one-fourth dry substance and three-fourths 

 water. From these data the farmer will be able to judge 

 for himself whether or not he gets a proper increase in 

 weight of live stock for the food consumed ; and from com- 

 parative experiments he can decide whether ornot he gets 

 an adequately greater rate of increase by mixiug with his 

 other food some of the mixtures offered to him at £40 or 

 £50 per ton. To aid him still further in his calculations on 

 this point, it may be stated that owing to the fact that dur- 

 ing the fattening process the saleable carcass increases very 

 much more rapidly than the internal and other offal parts, 

 it may be reckoned that nearly 70 per cent, of the gross 

 increase of oxen and sheep fattening over a considerable 

 period of time will be saleable carca'S. Calculations ofa 

 similar kind in regard to pigs show, that of their increase in 

 weight whilst fattening, little less than 90 per cent, may be 

 reckoned as saleable carcass. 



So much for the means of estimating the value of the in- 

 crease in live-weight of fattening stock. I now turn to the 



question of the probable average value of the manure 

 obtained from the consumption ot different descriptions 

 of food. 



The valuation of the manure resulting from the consump' 

 tion of different foods is founded upon estimates of their 

 composition, and upon a knowledge, experimentally ac- 

 quired, of the probable average amount of those constituents 

 of the food valuable for manure, which will be obtained iii 

 the solid and liquid excrements of the animals. In the esti- 

 mates of the value of the manure from different foods, given 

 in the following tabic, I have based my calculations upon 

 what I consider the average composition of several articles, 

 when of good qualitj'. 



TABLE, 



Showing the estimated value of the Manure obtained from the 

 consumption of 1 ton of different articles of Food; each 

 supposed to be of good quality of its kind. 



It will be seen how enormously the value of the manure 

 from one ton of different foods varies according to the cora- 

 positiou of the food itself. Now, from the actual analyses 

 that have been made of several of the expensive " condi- 

 mental" compound foods, as well as from a knowledge of the 

 chief articles used in their manufacture, it may be safely 

 asserted that a ton of few, if any of them, would yield a 

 manure of anything like the value of either of the first nine 

 articles in the above list. In the case of the majority 

 of these new foods, the value of the manure from a ton 

 of the food would certainly be much less than that from a 

 ton of any one of those nine articles. 



To conclude : No experimental evidence upo:i indubitably 

 trustworthy authority has yet been brought forward to 

 prove that the use of the foods, costing from £40 to £50 per 

 ton, will so improve the rate of increase of fattening stork 

 upon a given weight of dry substance of food, as to compen- 

 sate for the heavy cost of these condimental additions. Any 

 intelligent farmer can, however, by the aid of the informa- 

 tion which has been given above, satisfy himself oa the point, 

 if he will rigidly rely upon scales and weights, instead 

 of upon merely casual observation. And with regard to the 

 value of the manure, the figures in the above table, and the 

 observations we have made upon them, will show him how 

 much of his £40 or £50 he may expect to recover in the 

 form of manure. J, B. Lawes. 



Rothamsted, Jan, \8th, * 



