20 Influence on the Production of Mutton 



for ^274 6s. 3d., equal to just under 4-Jd. per lb. This 

 means that there was Jd. per lb. of loss between buying and 

 selling. The difference between ,£274 6s. 3d. and ^,'210 3s., 

 namely, £64. 3s. 3d., represents what the live-weight gain 

 (4,828 lb.) realised, and this will be found to be 3'igd. per lb. 

 Even in a good year it is evident that the live-weight increase 

 cannot be put at much more than 3d. per lb., and in a bad 

 season it will work out at much less. But in favour of taking 

 3d. per lb. as the basis of value three important considerations 

 are to be urged. The first is that the increase made by the 

 sheep during the summer is by no means a full statement of 

 the benefits that follow the improvement of pasture. The 

 autumn and winter grazing by sheep or cattle is also of 

 considerable value, amounting, as it does at Cockle Park, 

 to as much as 5s. 8d. per acre per annum on the best plot.* 

 The second consideration is to be found in the fact that even 

 at the end of nine years the benefits of the improvements 

 are not nearly exhausted. (See p. 28.) The third considera- 

 tion is not less important, namely, that the most was not 

 being made out of the land by stocking with sheep alone. 

 These animals had to be relied on because of considerations 

 of fencing, the size of the plots, etc., but in practice cattle 

 or horses would have been used to keep down the rough 

 herbage, and they would not only have left something for 

 their keep, but would actually have improved the pasture. 



It is due to Mr. Ashcroft to point out that he thinks that 

 the live weight increase should be valued at a higher rate than 

 3d. per lb., say 3fd., or even ^d. He contends that in actual 

 practice a farmer would purchase his stock on better terms 

 than is possible where experimental plots have to be stocked 

 at a definite period with a certain class of sheep. He points 

 out, too, that farmers would generally purchase direct, and 

 thus avoid the payment of a commission ; and, by buying 

 lambs in place of tegs, would save carriage. With Mr. 

 Ashcroft's contentions I am in thorough agreement, and in 

 adopting 3d. per lb. as the value of the live-weight increase, I 

 believe that the case for the experiments is being understated 

 rather than overstated. No single figure can be taken as 

 absolute, but it is best to err, if err we must, on the safe side, 



* See Report for Nine Years, p. 58. 



