170 All Experiment in Pi (j-Fccdinf] . 



t'o*'^"- £ .,. f7. ' Beceipts. ^ ^ ^ 



4 store pigs 10 11 G92 lbs. of jwrk, at Gd per lb. rr G 



AtteiKknce 10 



Killing 4 



1327 lbs. palm-nut meal, at) , i, i^^ tit • i ^ ^m ■ l i « •>• 



8s per cwt ' ' > 4 14 10 Manunal value, at 34s. per ton 10 3 



GGSlbs. malt-iliist,at4s. perewt. 1 3 9 i ,, , 



11 G lbs. peas, at Id. per lb. .. 9 8 



12J cwt. turnips .') 5 ,, , 



Balance, being in-ofit .. .. 1 14 



19 12 8 I 19 12 8. 



If all the pigs had been equally healthy the profit would no- 

 doubt have been greater, and even at the unusually low market 

 price of Qxh per lb. it would then have been satisfactory to the 

 feeder. Was the consumer also satisfied ? This is a question 

 that must never be overlooked in testing any novelty in feeding. 

 The foods that may be most economical to the farmer, when 

 first tried, will not continue to be so if the flesh produced by 

 their use is of inferior quality. The free use of roots is known 

 to produce a pork that wastes in cooking ; where many peas are 

 given the pork is hard ; and with some foods rich in oil the fat 

 itself becomes oily and wanting in firmness. An experience of 

 some four or five years with the same food, given in slightly 

 different proportions, enables me to say confidently that the food 

 used in this experiment produced meat quite as good as that of 

 pigs fed on barley-meal. The same butchers have purchased 

 pigs so fed year after year, and have always given the top price 

 of the day, some of them knowing that no barley-meal was used 

 on the farm. 



I will now compare the results given with those obtained in 

 the feeding experiments conducted by Mr. Lawes. In this case 

 the object was economical rather than scientific, not aiming at 

 illustrating the general principles of nutrition, but with the much 

 humbler intent of ascertaining the effects of a particular food ; but 

 we may yet learn something as to the fitness of the food used, by 

 comparing it with those used in the experiments at Rothamsted. 

 In Table II. the whole time of fattening is divided into four 

 nearly equal periods. The proportion of roots differs greatly in 

 these periods, and we cannot compare the results obtained till 

 Ave reduce the different dietaries to some one common standard 

 of value. This is done in the last line but one of the table, \yhich 

 gives the weight of the dry organic matter, the only portion 

 which is likely to possess a feeding value. The quantities there 

 given are obtained by deducting the weiglit of the water and of 

 ash contained in each constituent of the food. 



