Sir John Lawcs and Sir Joseph Gilbert. 245 



position of the animals produced on the farm, and the composition of 

 the increase produced during fattening. The experiments on pigs 

 threw much light on the source of fat in the animal body. One young 

 pig was killed and its body analysed. Another pig, from the same 

 litter, was fattened with food of known composition, and then killed 

 and analysed. The composition of the increase obtained whilst fatten- 

 ing was thus ascertained. It was found that when pigs were fed on 

 barley meal, maize, or diets containing pure starch and sugar, the 

 quantity of fat produced was far greater than could be accounted for 

 by the ready-formed fat and the albuminoids of the food, and that 

 large quantities of fat must have been formed from carbohydrates. At 

 that time most German physiologists believed that fat was only formed 

 from albuminoids; the conclusion arrived at by Lawes and Gilbert 

 is now, however, universally admitted to be correct. As a result 

 of their experiments with animals they were able to teach the farmer 

 what amount of fattening increase he might expect from the use of 

 ordinary foods, what proportion of the constituents of the food would be 

 stored up in the animal, and what proportion would appear as manure. 

 Tables were al*p published showing the weight of butcher's carcase in 

 cattle of any given live weight, in various conditions as to fatness. 



In later years, opportunity was taken of the presence of a large 

 herd of dairy cows at Rothamsted to prepare statistics of the food 

 consumed and the milk produced by these animals. 



Careful experiments on the relative feeding value of barley, and of 

 the malt made from it, were carried out for the Board of Trade. The 

 process of ensilage was also studied, the losses in the silo determined, 

 and the feeding value of silage compared with that of the original 

 green food preserved as hay, and with other foods. The manure 

 value of cattle foods was repeatedly calculated for the information 

 of the farmer, and tables on the subject were published. 



A considerable part of the results obtained at Rothamsted still 

 remains unpublished. The number of papers and reports amounted 

 to 132 in 1901. This is exclusive of very many shorter papers by Sir 

 John Lawes, and of the " Memoranda," published annually. The 

 dates of publication extend from 1847 to 1900. The earliest published 

 paper appeared in the Gardeners' Chronicle and Agricultural Gazette of 

 June 14, 1845. Separate copies of the Rothamsted papers have been 

 from the first freely distributed. In later years, complete sets of the 

 reports were prepared by reprinting some of the older publications, 

 and bound copies of the whole were presented to the libraries of 

 Agricultural Colleges and Experiment Stations in various parts of 

 the world. About 200 complete sets were thus prepared, of these 50 

 were purchased by the English Board of Agriculture. 



R. W. 



