MAINTENANCE RATION FOR SHEEP 251 



the decrease of weight passes a certain limit, then 

 the yield of wool is less. As wool can only be 

 formed from protein, it is most probable that of 

 those rations which do not suffice for the main- 

 tenance of the animal, those which contain sufficient 

 protein will have the least unfavourable influence 

 upon the wool, and this has been confirmed in 

 numerous investigations. 



If, on the other hand, more food is given than 

 is necessary, the production of wool is not thereby 

 increased to any extent. The mean figures ob- 

 tained in seven experiments with a bare maintenance 

 diet and in fourteen experiments with a feeding 

 ration, were, in the first case, 141 g. of wool= 0-273 % 

 of the weight of the fleece, at the end of the in- 

 vestigation, and, in the second case, 141 g. wool= 

 0-286 % of the weight of the fleece. 



In another experiment with lambs five months 

 old, one group were given meadow hay and 

 oats, and weighed in the beginning 25-4 kg. per 

 head, and at the end of nine months 46-25 kg., 

 the animals being then fat. The other group were 

 given meadow hay only, and the average weight 

 of each lamb was 25-0 kg. at the beginning, and 

 36-15 kg. at the end; the uncleaned wool weighed 

 2-69 kg. as compared with 2-18 kg. uncleaned 

 wool from the animals which had -received hay and 

 oats. 



To sum up, then, the growth of wool only suffers 



