316 Agricultural C/iemistry — Sheep- Feeding and Manure. 



perimental pens, it being- so arranged, that, as far as possible, each 

 sheep had its counterpart in weight and make in each of the other 

 pens, though within each pen the animals mi^-ht in both these 

 respects show a somewhat wider difference. Six of these pens 

 comprised the experiments now to be described, the other three 

 constituting a series of themselves, of which we shall speak here- 

 after. 



When first weighed, the sheep were very dirty, and it would 

 have been desirable to have had them previously trimmed ; but it 

 was considered that they would compare with each other in this 

 respect, and that as it was intended to allow them a week or more 

 to get accustomed to the new food and situation before com- 

 mencing the exact experiment, they would by that time have lost 

 much of their adherent dirt, and that their second weights would 

 be somewhat uniform. For some time, however, scarcely any of 

 the animals did well upon their food, by no means a fair allow- 

 ance of the mangolds being eaten. One or two of them, indeed, 

 it was found necessary to kill ; and most were in such a condition 

 as to require that the commencement of the experiment should 

 be postponed until the animals had been three weeks in the pens, 

 during which time none had done well. Many had, besides the 

 loss of dirt, apparently depreciated in actual live weight also ; 

 whilst the order within each pen, and the uniformity between one 

 pen and another, were considerably deranged, as will be seen by 

 an inspection of the following Table: — 



Series IV. 



Table 1.- — Showing the Weight of each Sheep and each Pen on 

 Feb. 26, when put up, and on March 20, when the experiment was 

 commenced. Quantities stated in lbs. 



Takino; the first division of the Table, it is seen that the averagfe 

 live weight was the same in all the pens when the animals were 

 first put up, and that the weights of those bearing similar numbers 

 in the different pens were also nearly identical. There is, how- 

 ever, a difference of about 10 lbs. between the heaviest and the 

 lightest sheep in each pen. The second division shows that, on 

 March 20, when the more exact experiment commenced, nearly 



