INTRODUCTION. 



vix 



« An Experiment on Six Oxen, from November 16, 1797, to December 10, 1798, made by orde 



of the late Duke of Bedford, 



Food given, 



No. 1. "^oil-cake 

 Hereford > turnips 

 Ox. 3 hay 



No. 2. 



Hereford 



Ox. 



No. 3. ^ oil-cake 

 Devon /-turnips 

 Ox. 3 hay. 



No. 4. 



Devon 



Ox. 



No. 5. 



Sussex 

 Ox. 



No. 6. 



Leicester 

 Ox. 



oil-cake 



turnips 



hay 



Lbs. 



3060 

 530 



450 



3040 



467 



450 



3090 



376 



450 



3000 



475 



450 



3030 



443 



450 

 3010 



447 



Food taken back, 

 or Offal. 



Lbs. 



360 

 43 



26i 



Food consumed. 



Live Weight, 

 16th Nov. 1797, 



Live Weicjht, 

 9th Dec. 1798, 



328 



4i 



O 



111 



422 

 81 



375 



51 



358 



46i 



Lbs. 



2700 



^ 487 



423i 



22,712 



432i 



438^ 

 2668 

 295 



442f 

 2636 

 442§ 



432i 

 2655 

 392 



434f 



2652 



400X 



Cwt. Qrs. Lbs. 



17 1 



Cwl. Qrs. Lbs. 



18 3 



Live Weight 

 gained. 



18 







21 



14 1 7 



17 2 



14 2 14 



16 2 



19 



19 S 



15 i! 14 



18 2 



The oxen were weighed on the day that they were put up for experiment ; the food that 

 was given to them daily, was likewise weighed, and the refuse or offal was taken hack and 

 Its weight ascertained : hardly any thing could be more satisfactory than this mode of conduct^ 

 ing the experiment. 



The Devon ox, (No. 4), on a less weight of food, gains 185 lbs. of flesh more than the 

 Hereford ox, (No. 2) : but suppose that the difference of the breed should have had much in- 

 fluence in this instance, the difference between the two Devon oxen, (No. 3, and No 4) is 

 very striking; for though the weight of food consumed by each is nearly equal, the latter 

 gams 154 lbs. of flesh more than the former. Viewing the results of this experiment, therefore, 

 merely as a test for proving the comparative degree of nourishment contained in these several 

 species of food, and not as a proof of the relative value of the respective breeds of animals, (for 

 which this experiment was made, and fulfilled the intention), we could arrive at no satisfactory 

 conclusion ; because it still remains to be proved, whether another individual of the same breed 

 as the ox, (No. 4), might not have gained a greater proportion of flesh from the same weight 

 of food as was consumed by the latter 



If the weight of nutritive matter which the chemical process shews these different species of 

 tood contains, be' now compared with the weight of flesh which the different oxen gained from 

 It, the comparison will manifest the superior utility of this new mode of investigating the nu- 

 tntive qualities of the food of these animals. 



