and in the Stack in Haymaking. 



33 



Thus, notwithstanding the larger amount of food, the sheep had 

 lost together 4 lbs. since the last weighing. 



Knowing that the clover-hay was made in wet weather, and 

 long on the ground before it was carted and stacked, and having 

 experimentally found a fair allowance insufficient to support the 

 live weight of one sheep, I next gave them as much of the same 

 hay as they would eat, and instead of cutting the clover into chaff 

 as before, supplied it as taken from the stack. The food not 

 consumed was weighed back each day, and found to consist 

 mainly of the harder and less palatable stems of clover. From 

 the 8th of December to the 14th, the four sheep ate 78|^ lbs. of 

 clover; in the next week 79 lbs., and in the next 76 lbs. ; then 

 78|^ lbs. ; from the 4th of January to the 11th inclusive, they 

 consumed 74 lbs., and in the following week 64^ lbs. ; then again 

 73^ lbs., then 63J lbs. ; and in the last experimental fortnight 

 76|- lbs. in one week, and 63 lbs. in the last. 



The periodical weighings of the four sheep are incorporated in 

 the following: Table : — • 



This experiment is interesting in two ways. It shows first the 

 folly of supplying animals with bad hay alone, and proves 

 secondly that clover-hay can get deteriorated by rain, long 

 keeping and frequent turnings in the field, to such an extent that 

 any amount which sheep will consume is barely sufficient to 

 maintain their original weight. Messrs. Lawes and Gilbert have 

 shown that sheep fed upon well-made hay alone, increase in 

 weight. The experiment, it will be seen, was continued for a 

 period of more than three months, and the weighings done by 

 myself in person. These practical results illustrate more forcibly 

 the serious injury to which clover is subject when made into hay 

 under an unfavourable season, than any analytical data possibly 

 can do. Having, however, made a partial analysis of the clover, 

 I may as well point out its general composition. 



VOL. III. — S. S. D 



