26 HATCH EXPERIMENT STATION. [Jan. 



The lambs were shipped to Ira C. Lowe of Greenfield, 

 Mass., who slaughtered them, and reported on their condi- 

 tion. He had no knowledge as to which lambs were fed the 

 flax meal and which lambs were fed the old-process linseed 

 meal ration. Lamb No. 8 was reported to be of extra 

 quaility, Lamb No. 5 next in quality to No. 8, and the 

 others of fair quality only. Looking at the average figures 

 in the above tables, it will be seen that each lot of five 

 lambs showed the same daily gain. Mr. Lowe noticed no 

 particular advantage in favor of either lot. 



Results of the Experiment. 



As a result of our observations, we conclude : — 



That the flax meal had no injurious effect either upon the 



growth or dressed appearance of the lambs, and that both 



sets of lambs produced the same average daily growth, and 



were both in the same average condition when slaughtered. 



Remarks and Suggestions. 

 It is well known to all growers of early lambs, that in 

 order to secure a rapid growth of the lamb, the ewe should 

 be thrifty, and a good milker. A liberal feeding will aid in 

 keeping up a continuous flow of milk. The early growth 

 of the lamb will depend very much on the constitution it 

 inherits, and upon its success in obtaining a large supply of 

 milk. Easily digested nitrogenous feed stuffs will unques- 

 tionably assist in producing quick growth, but they are 

 secondary to the milk supply. This is quite forcibly illus- 

 trated in case of our experiments as described above. Lamb 

 No. 8 was single, and its mother was an excellent milker. 

 The lamb was above the average in size and vigor when 

 dropped. He grew rapidly, showing .83 of a pound gain 

 per day. It was noticed that this lamb did not consume very 

 large amounts of grain, although he had a constant oppor- 

 tunity. He derived the larger part of the food necessary 

 for his growth from his mother. Lamb No. 5 was also a 

 single lamb. He made a very good growth, but the ewe 

 was not as good a milker as the previous one. This lamb 

 took more grain than did No. 8, but was not able to make as 



