372 THE FEEDING OF ANIMALS 



real and sometimes greatly overestimated or even 

 imagined, the production of wool and mutton would 

 greatly increase on the hill farms of this country, with 

 undoubted profit to eastern agriculture, especially where 

 soil fertility needs strengthening in every possible 

 way. 



468. The nature and extent of the growth in fatten- 

 ing sheep. — ^The character of the animal that is fattened 

 for mutton varies within wider extremes than in steer- 

 feeding. This is due chiefly to the greater range in ma- 

 turity of the former, from the two months' lamb to the 

 mature wether. There are corresponding differences in 

 the nature of the increase whUe fattening, according as 

 the animal is young and making growth of all parts of the 

 body, or is simply storing fat in the mature organism. 

 The character of the body substance stored, probably, is 

 also influenced by the stage in the fattening period, 

 whether at the beginning when the animal is thin or near 

 the end when a fat sheep is becoming fatter. The only 

 definite data which can be presented relative to the com- 

 position of the increase of fattening sheep are based upon 

 the analyses by Lawes and Gilbert of animals in various 

 states of fatness. These investigators analyzed a "store" 

 sheep, a "fat" sheep, and a "very fat" sheep, and from 

 the figures thus obtained is calculated the increase in two 

 stages of fattening: 



Tabm! LXXXII. Composition of Increase of Fattening Sheep 



Dry 



substance Ash Protein Fat 



^ Per cent Per cent Per cent Per cent 



Increase from "store" to "fat" 



condition 78. 2.12 7.16 68.8 



Increase from "fat" to "very fat" 



condition 81.8 3.12 7.75 70.9 



