FEEDING RATIONS. 160 



ASH CONSTITUENTS STOEfiD UP AND VOIDED FOR 100 CONSUMED. 



Stored up as 

 Increase. 



Oxen . 



Sheep - 

 Pia-s - - 



2.3 

 3.8 

 4.5 



Voided in Total 

 Excrements. 



96.2 

 95.5 



** The proportion of the nitrogen and ash constituents 

 of the food which is retained by a fattening animal is in 

 all cases very small; in each instance mentioned above, 

 save one, more than ninety-five per cent of both nitrogen 

 and ash constituents find their way into the manure. 

 The pig is seen to retain the largest proportion of the 

 nitrogen of the. food ; this is clearly owing to the greater 

 proportion of increase which the pig produces from a 

 given w^eight of food. 



** The amount of nitrogen voided in the urine is seen to 

 be three or four times the quantity contained in the solid 

 excrement. This relation will vary greatly according to 

 the character of the diet. If the food is nitrogenous 

 and easily digested, the nitrogen in the urine will greatly 

 preponderate; if, on the other hand, the food is one imper- 

 fectly digested, the nitrogen in the solid excrement may 

 form the larger quantity. AVhen ordinary hay is the 

 diet, the nitrogen in the solid excrement will generally 

 somewhat exceed that contained in the urine ; with a 

 straw diet the excess in the solid excrement will be still 

 greater. On the other hand, corn and oil cake, and 

 especially roots, yield a large excess of nitrogen in the 

 urine. 



"• The ash constituents are very differently distributed in 

 the solid excrement and urine; in the former, lime, mag- 

 nesia, and phosphoric acid preponderate, while the lat- 

 ter contains nearly all the potash. With sheep fed on 

 hay about ninety-five per cent of the lime contained 

 in the food, seventy per cent of the magnesia, and 

 eighty-three per cent of the phosphoric acid were found 



