Dairy Management. 167 



The yield of excrement was at the rate of 9^ tons per year, and 

 its value in ammonia and phosphate of lime may be computed 

 at 155. per ton, being at the rate of '2s. \0\d. per week for 

 each, to which the sulphate of potash will be an appreciable 

 addition. 



It will be observed that the bulk of food supplied when this 

 sample of excrement was sent for analysis was meadovv-}]i;rass, at 

 the time of year when it is rich in nitrogen, and this would mate- 

 rially affect the proportion of nitrogen in the excrement. It 

 would have afforded a more correct test of my views as t 

 the disposition of animals to assimilate more of nitrogen in th 

 early, and of fat in the later, stages of feeding if the same food 

 had been continued throughout. Still when I find in the advanced 

 stage of feeding the excrement doubly rich in nitrogen, with 

 scarcely an equal gain in weight, this tends to confirm such an 

 inference. 



It seems probable that the supply of extra food, during June, 

 as far as regards the nitrogenous principle, was superfluous. 

 The cost of this extra food is os. 2hd. per week ; the increase in 

 the value of the excrement will be about Is. Id., as the excre- 

 ment without the extra food would probably have been worth 

 Is. Qd. per week. 



On each occasion the sample of excrement sent for analysis 

 was taken from the quantity of solid and liquid evacuated 

 during the preceding 24 hours, well blended and sent off quite 

 fresh. 



These experiments were concluded in June, 1855, since when 

 my treatment has undergone som^e modifications. 



Efficacy of Sugar and Starch in the production of Fat. — 

 I now call attention to a subject which has been long a matter 

 of controversy amongst the teacliers of agricultural chemistry, 

 and which may be considered as barely settled — tlie efficacy oi 

 sugar and starch in the production of fat. In the Highland 

 Agricultural Society's Journal I find well-authenticated arid 

 reliable statements by Mr. Hope of Fenton Barns and others, 

 to the effect that cattle supplied with turnips — 170 lbs. to 180 lbs. 

 per day, with 5 lbs. of straw per day — had gained throughout a 

 course of feeding 14 lbs. per week — a gain 1 have scarcely found 

 exceeded, taking the average of a lot for a lengthened course. 

 From various analyses of these materials, and selecting those of 

 good average quality, I deduce the following proportions in lbs. 

 for 24 weeks : — 



