THE OX. FATTENING. 455 



allowance of provender, the food which contained the greatest quan- 

 tity of azotized principles— of /esA, in fact — produced the largest 

 amount of dead weight in a given time, and that the lot which had 

 the shortest allowance increased in the smallest measure both in 

 flesh and fat — results which might have been readily foreseen. It 

 is also apparent, from the table, that in proportion to the nutritive 

 value of the article consumed by each lot, the increase in carcass 

 weight was greatest in that which received its allowance in the least 

 bulk. Thus reducing the different rations to a standard forage, we 

 find that in the first lot, which was most plentifully supplied, 100 of 

 hay gave 4.2 of increased weight ; while the same allowance of hay 

 produced 6 in the third lot which was fed parsimoniously. This 

 fact is most readily explained : over a certain limit, the more food 

 an animal receives, the smaller is the fraction which \a assimilated 

 and turned to use in the body. Breeders have consequently discov- 

 ered, that it is by no means generally advantageous to push animals 

 beyond a certain point of fatness. The excess of weight which is 

 obtained with the assistance of quantities of food, exaggerated as it 

 were, no longer compensates for the additional expense incurred. 

 This is a circumstance which Mr. Stephenson's experiments also 

 illustrate, and indeed they led him to the conclusion which has just 

 been sta:ed. Judging by the market price of the several articles of 

 provender employed by this distinguished breeder the first lot appears 

 to be that the fattening of which turned out the least advantageously : 

 while each pound weight of flesh produced here cost about 5d., the 

 price of production in the second lot did not much exceed 4d. (45th ;) 

 in the third it was a little more, (4|ths.) 



With these observations of Mr. Stephenson, we find the following 

 numbers to express the daily increase in weight of the cattle during 

 the period of fattening : 



Average weight of - Hay consumed per day Inore«s« per head Increase per day and 



the oxen befor« and per biad. in 119 days. par hoad. 

 fattening, 



lbs. lbs. lbs. lb*. 



let lot.... 1115 49.7 247.6 2. 



2d " ....1016 84.8 281.6 1.9 



8d " .... 794 16. 112.6 0.9 



The weight of the several animals must also be taken into account' 

 in seeking to estimate the increase realized upon every 100 lbs. of 

 live weight during the fattening. 



In the 1st lot— 100 of live weight in 119 days gained, 22.2 

 2d " " 22.8 



8d « " 14.2 



It is seldom that cattle are fattened in the house upon clover or 

 lucern in the green state ; nevertheless, animals will fatten upon 

 this forage with great rapidity. An ox will eat as much as 1 cwt. 

 of clover cut in flower in the course of the day. In case the green 

 food should relax the bowels too much, a fraction of the allowance 

 may be given dried, and towards the end of the fattening a little cake 

 may be given. But these additions do not appear to me indispensa- 

 ble ; they are always attended with additional cost : and I have 



