191 1.] Summary of Agricultural Experiments. 927 



supplied cold. The potatoes for Lot II. were pulped after being 

 thoroughly washed. In both lots the potatoes and meal were mixed 

 with water and then supplied to the pigs, the same quantity of water 

 being used in each case. The three pigs fed on raw potatoes made a 

 gain in live-weight of i cwt. 73 lb., while the three on boiled potatoes 

 made 1 cwt. 98 lb. 



If 15. per week is allowed as the cost for fuel and labour in boiling, 

 the balance in favour of the boiled potatoes (Lot I.) is estimated at 

 2S. 6d., but Professor Bryner Jones remarks that the trouble and 

 inconvenience of cooking food for pigs is, in many cases, a mucli more 

 serious consideration than the actual cost of fuel and attendance, and 

 if a price were set on this, it is doubtful whether it would not frequently 

 be found much more profitable to feed pigs on raw potatoes than this 

 experiment would seem to show\ 



Fattening of Sheep and the Residual Manurial Value of Feeding 

 Stuffs (Cornwall C.C., Report on Cattle Feeding, 1907 and 1908).— An 

 experiment is in progress for the purpose of testing the residual value 

 of purchased feeding stuffs consumed on pastures by sheep. Up to 

 December, 1908, about one ton each of linseed cake, cotton cake, and 

 maize had been consumed on three plots, and the difference between 

 these plots and one receiving nothing is very marked. An interesting 

 point is that the maize plot appears to be improving as rapidly as the 

 cotton cake plot, thus suggesting that the manurial value does not 

 differ so greatly as the Lawes and Gilbert tables indicate. 



Feeding Cattle with Different Amounts of Swedes (Northumberland 

 Agric. Expt. Station, Cockle Park, Bull. No. 15). — Trials on the 

 feeding of cattle with different quantities of swedes', and also without 

 roots, have been in progress at Cockle Park since 1901, and the results 

 for 1907-10 are reported in this Bulletin. 



In these trials several of the leading concentrated foods and fodders 

 were substituted for the swedes fed to fattening and store cattle, and 

 on the whole the results were practically equal. It seems, therefore, 

 to be quite possible to substitute concentrated foods and fodders in 

 cases where swedes are not available. When this is done equivalent 

 food nutrients should be given. 



From these results it may be assumed that the nutritive matter in 

 swedes, calculated from the German standards, is to a large extent 

 equal to the same amount of nutritive matter in our more common 

 cakes, meals, and fodders. In these trials the rations have been 

 calculated on the basis of the Wolff-Lehmann feeding standards for 

 ruminants. These are based on the amounts of the various constituents 

 of food which are actually digested by ruminants, and not on the total 

 amounts of constituents in the foods. At the same time it must be 

 recognised that many foods have a particular value, because some of 

 the feeding constituents contained in them are specially suitable for 

 certain classes of animals. 



The swedes were valued at 6s. Sd. per ton, but the cost of the 

 substituted foods was in each case greater by several shillings. At 

 current prices, however, swedes are worth more than 6s. Sd., so that 

 the difference in cost was probably not great, 



Soy Bean Cake for Feeding (Northumberland Agric. Expt. Station, 

 Cockle Park, Bull. No. 15). — Trials with this cake in 1909-10 showed 



