INTRODUCTORY. 



441 



object were only tlie production of meat at the cheapest rate, we 

 should confine ourselves to the use of starchy grain, and 

 materials rich in vegetable fats, especially in dealing with animals 

 fully grown. But, inasmuch as we have a two-fold object in 

 feeding, viz., the production of meat and manure, and as the 

 value of the latter depends so materially upon the proportion of 

 nitrogen in the food, it is quite evident that the most profitable 

 practice will consist in the employment of a mixed diet, which 

 conduces to both ends, and especially will it be desirable to use 

 nitrogenous materials during growth, and substances rich in 

 fatty matters for the later stages of feeding. Both Sir J. Lawes 

 and Mr. C. G. Roberts prove that feeding per se is not profit- 

 able ; our return depends upon the value of the manure 

 obtained. Thus Sir J. Lawes in his opening remarks : " The 

 profit of feeding, indeed, is to be sought within the limits of the 

 value of the manure ; and that it is therefore much dependent 

 on the quality of the latter, and consequently on the judgment 

 exercised in the selection of the foods and the management of 

 the animals and the manure, is a view which seems to be 

 supported at once by the convergent testimony of current 

 experience, and by a consideration of the laws which regulate 

 the price of all articles in general use. Admitting that the 

 prices of all such articles are regulated by the cost of pro- 

 duction, and that they cannot long either be produced at a loss, 

 or be sold at a price which will yield more than a fair profit upon 

 the capital and labour employed in their production ; and apply- 

 ing this view to the subject before us, we should certainly 

 decide that the selling price of the meat alone produced upon the 

 farm must be less than that of the food consumed, and that the 

 profit of the feeding process is to be found in the remaining 

 product, namely, in those parts of the food which are rejected 

 by the animal, and which, under the title of manure, gives fresh 

 fertility to the soil, and thus supply a second product for the 

 market." 



Mr. C. G. Roberts conducted a definite experiment to test 

 the result of feeding upon a mixture of malt dust, a material 

 tolerably rich in nitrogen, and Smith's palm-nut meal, which 

 contains a high percentage of vegetable oil. The experiment 

 lasted for ninety-four days. At first a small quantity of boiled 



