Comparative Fattening Qualities of Sheep. 



181 



other. This fact is, however, for the purposes of the experiment, 

 perhaps rather desirable than otherwise, as giving a character not 

 so exclusively that of a single flock as might have been the case 

 had the animals been more strictly uniform. 



In each lot, the relation of the lightest to the heaviest sheep 

 v/as about as three to four ; but this difference is not greater 

 than was found with the Hampshires ; and among the Sussex 

 sheep, which were judged to be so peculiarly pure and uniform, 

 the variation in weight was not much less. 



The fifty Cotsvvold lambs travelled by railway to London, 

 whence they were driven to Rothamsted, a distance of 25 miles. 

 They arrived on October 16, 1851, and were allowed until the 

 24th to recover the effects of their journey, before being weighed. 

 They were then fed upon turnips, in the field, until November 

 21, when they were put upon the rafters in the shed, as had been 

 done with the Hampshire and Sussex sheep in the previous 

 season. On November 24 the Cotswolcls were re-w^eighed and 

 marked ; and at this date, one of each of the two apparently 

 different lots, of ec|ual weights, and about the average of the 

 whole in this respect, Vv^ere selected to kill as stores, in order to 

 determine the proportion of carcass, 6cc,, in the live weight in 

 that condition. 



The description of foods selected Vv'as the same as for the 

 Hampshire and Sussex sheep, viz., oil-cake and clover chaff, as 

 dry foods, given in fixed quantities, according to the average 

 weight of the animals, and swedes, given ad libitum.. The 48 

 Cots wold lambs were given these foods from November 24, when 

 first put upon the rafters ; and on December 1, w^hen they had 

 become accustomed both to food and situation, they were 

 re-weighed, and the exact experiment v/as commenced ; — the 

 quantities of the dry foods having been fixed according to the 

 average weight of the animals when first put upon the rafters, 

 •viz., on November 24. 



It had previously been decided not to include in the exact 

 • experiment the preliminary week, in the new situation, and with 

 the new food ; though, as the result turned out, the animals during 

 this period gave much more than the average increase in live 

 weight; indeed, on comparing the total result of the Cotswolds 

 under experiment with that of the Hampshire and Sussex Dovvms, 

 in which is included the first week of more than usual increase, 

 the relative gain per head of the Cotswolds will be understated 

 by about 6 lbs., owing to this slightly different arrangement of 

 the experiment. 



In the previous experiments, the average weight per head of 

 the Sussex sheep when they were put up (Nov. 7, 1850), was 

 88 lbs. and that of the Hampshires 113f lbs. ; to the latter there 



