Ch. XLI.] ON FATTING. 521 



and the cash accounts of the feeding and sale would stand thus : — 

 Food . 27 cwt..O qrs. 9 lbs. of rice, at 8s. per cwt. £10 16 8 



[44 St. 7 lbs. live weight, at 5«. 6f/. per st. £11 2 9 



Produce 



[GO St. 6 lbs. dead do. at 3s. 8(/. ,, £11 2 9 



This, it will be observed, very nearly approximates the feeding qualities of 

 rice and barley ; for experiments have been made on the Berkshire and 

 Chinese cross, which show that 12 stone dead weight of pork may be 

 obtained from the consumption of 9 bushels of barley* ; but, in fatting hogs 

 for bacon, whether barley or rice be used, we should also recommend a por- 

 tion of peas. 



Regarding steamed food, it having been very generally assumed that 

 steamed roots — potatoes especially — were preferable to raw in the feeding of 

 neat cattle and swine, the Highland Society in 1833 offered premiums for 

 trials on the subject, several of which were made, from which it would appear, 

 that any advantage which might be gained by such preparation of food for 

 oxen was counterbalanced by the cost of fuel and labour. We gave an extract 

 from the Society's Report upon that subject in our account of winter stall- 

 feeding f; and as the object is also of very great ^importance in so far as 

 it regards the economical expenditure of food for pigs, we hereby submit 

 the information furnished on that point by the following 



EXPERlMENTst. 



Mr. Bosvvell, of Balmuto and Kingcausie, caused his overseer, on 

 the 1st of December, to put up ten pigs, all of one litter, in two lots, 

 of exactly the same weight ; each being collectively 5 cwt. 2 qrs. 

 22 lbs. The food employed was round red potatoes and the best 

 oatmeal ; those on raw food having the meal given them made up in 

 the manner of "crowdy," or, mixed up with a little cold water; and 

 the lot on prepared food having the potatoes boiled, with the oat-meal 

 made into common porridge. 



" From the first," Mr. Boswell says, "it was clear that the lot on 

 prepared food were fast beating the others, and an increased quantity 

 of oatmeal was given to the lot on raw, in order to make them ready 

 for sale along with the others ; yet still they were greatly deficient 

 on the 1st of March, at which time, the experiment being concluded, 

 they were put on prepared food, when they instantly began to make 

 up the lee-way." 



The live weights of the several lots on the 1st of March were : — 

 Those on boiled food . 10 cwt. 1 qr. lib. 



— raw do. . 8 , , 1 , , 15 lb. 



This striking difference shows a very decided advantage in improvement 

 by the use of prepared food ; but the expense appears to have been 6/. 19s. 

 Ahd., while that of the raw food was only 5/. 8s. 6d. Thus the cost of 

 feeding the pigs on raw food was less by 1/. 10^. lOW., while the excess 

 of flesh gained by those fed on prepared food was exactly 210 lbs. — equal 

 to 15 stone of 14 lbs. live weight: which, if only estimated at 4s. per stone, 

 would still leave a surplus profit of five shillings and ten pence per pig ; 

 and it is to be presumed also, that those in the best condition would obtain 

 a better price than the others. 



Mr. Walker, of Ferrygate, on the 4th of March, put up two lots, 

 containing five pigs each, of the same brood, and two and a half 



■'■' Hampshire Survey, p. 378. 



f See Chap, xxxiv. of this volume. 



\ See the Transactions of the Society,, N.S. vol. iv.^ 



