52G 



Agricultural Chemistry. — Pig Feeding. 



a very large percentage of bulky and innutritious woody fibre, 

 which, appears to have put a limit to consumption, scarcely 

 beyond the point required for the mere maintenance of the respi- 

 ratory process ; and, in these three pens, the animals gave 

 scarcely half as much increase for a given amount of grass food 

 consumed as the average of the Series. Hence, as is obvious, 

 the amounts consumed weekly per 100 lbs. live weight, as given 

 in the Table, include but a small amount devoted to the pur- 

 poses of increase ; and represent therefore, besides that which 

 was only innutritious woody fibre, little more than was demanded 

 by the respiratory requirements of the animal. There was, it is 

 true, in pen 5, a comparatively small amount of total organic 

 matter consumed per 100 lbs. of live weight ; but a reference to 

 the columns of nitrogenous and of non-nitrogenous substances 

 respectively, will show, that the deficiency in this case was rather 

 in that of the amount of the nitrogenous, than of the non-nitro- 

 genous constituents. It must be remembered too, that the food 

 in this pen 5, which was Indian meal exclusively, would possess 

 a higher respiratory and fat-forming capacity, than that in any- 

 other pen in the Series — and, unlike pens 9, 10, and 11, a very 

 small amount of innutritious woody fibre. Still, the amount of 

 non-nitrogenous substance consumed weekly per 100 lbs. live 

 weight, was comparatively small in this pen ; but we shall pre- 

 sently find, that notwithstanding this comparatively small amount 

 of the non-nitrogenous matter consumed to a given vv^eight of 

 animal within a given time, and also, that we had in this pen 

 three well fattened pigs — yet, in fact, in propo7'tion to the amount 

 of increase produced., the amount of non-nitrogenous matter con- 

 sumed, was as large here as in any case in the Series. In pens 

 1 and 3 again, we have a somewhat low amount of non-nitro- 

 genous substance consumed, considering that there was in both 

 pens a good rate of increase. In both these pens, however, the 

 amounts of nitrogenous substance consumed were very high ; 

 and, owing to this, the amounts of total organic matter consumed 

 are also somewhat high. It would appear, therefore, that in 

 these cases, the somewhat small amounts of non-nitrogenous sub- 

 stance consumed were compensated by the larger amounts of 

 nitrogenous substance. Part of the larger amounts of the non- 

 nitrogenous substances taken in the other pens, would seem 

 therefore to have been substituted, in these cases, by the nitro- 

 genous substances. 



In Series II. there are very few notable exceptions to the rule of 

 regularity in the amounts of non-nitrogenous, or total organic mat- 

 ter, consumed by a given weight of animal within a given time. 

 There is, however, certainly one such exception ; which, indeed^ 

 might seem to lead to very opposite conclusions to those which 



