WORCESTER SOCIETY. 187 



to the furnace, or we may protect their bodies from the cold. 

 Warmth is an equivalent for food, which may thus be econo- 

 mized. But I wish to give you facts, and not assertions ; and 

 as a proof of the view I have now given you, I will cite the 

 following experiment, which was made by the Earl of Ducie, 

 at Whitfield farm. 



" One hundred sheep were folded by tens in pens, each of 

 which was 22 feet in length by 10 feet in breadth, and pos- 

 sessed a covered shed attached to it of 12 feet in length by 10 

 in breadth. They were kept in there from the 10th of October 

 to the 10th of March. Each sheep consumed on an average 

 20 lbs. of swedes daily. Another hundred were folded in pens 

 of a similar size, but without sheds attached. They were kept 

 during the same time, and their daily consumption of swedes 

 amounted to 25 lbs. each. Here the circumstances were pre- 

 cisely similar with respect to exercise, the only difference being 

 t)iat the first hundred sheep had sheds into which they might 

 retire, and thus be partially protected from the cold. 



" This partial protection was equivalent to a certain amount 

 of food, and consequently we find that the sheep enjoying this 

 protection consumed one-fifth less food than those sheep which 

 were left entirely exposed to the cold. In the last case the 

 consumption of the additional food arose wholly from the ne- 

 cessity of adding more fuel (food) to the furnace of the body, 

 in order to keep up its normal temperature. This was proved 

 from the circumstance, that those sheep which enjoyed the 

 protection had increased three lbs. each, more than those left 

 unprotected, although the latter had consumed one-fifth more 

 food. 



" I wish particularly to impress upon you that warmth is an 

 equivalent for food, and that therefore food may be economized 

 by protecting cattle from the cold. The honey stored up by 

 bees is for the purpose of serving as fuel to keep up the heat 

 of their bodies during the winter. Now it has been found that 

 when two hives of bees are placed in one hive during winter, 

 that they actually consume less honey than each hive would 

 have done separately. You will easily perceive the explana- 

 tion of this circumstance from the facts which I have already 

 stated. Their close contiguity prevents a rapid escape of the 

 heat of their bodies, and consequently less fuel (honey) is 



