Influence of Manures on Mutton. 



303 



per day of cake, none of the plots, main or minor, has received 

 any dressing since the spring of 1897. 



On June 21st, 1897, each plot was stocked with eight 

 cross hoggets, v/hich grazed the pasture till October i ith, the 

 season thus embracing sixteen weeks. 



In 1898 some of the manures had produced such a marked 

 change that it would manifestly have been opposed to prac- 

 tical farming to have stocked all the plots alike. One result 

 of applying an effective manurial substance to pasture is that 

 the stock subsequently thrive better upon it, while another 

 result is that the land provides grazing for a greater number 

 of animals. After inspection, the Committee resolved that on 

 May 1 6th, 1898, six sheep should be placed on plot 6 ; eight 

 on plots 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10; and ten on plots i and 3. Six weeks 

 later it was evident that plots i and 7 would carry an extra 

 sheep, and that the stocking of plots 3, 9, and 10 might be 

 increased by the addition of two sheep, and these changes 

 were accordingly made on June 27th. No further alterations 

 were considered necessary during the grazing season, which 

 extended to twenty weeks, terminating on October 3rd. 

 Only one sheep died during the two years, but in each season 

 another had to be removed on account of sturdy. In each 

 case a reserve sheep was at once substituted, and due allow- 

 ance made. 



Each year sheep (crosses, by a Border Leicester ram out of a 

 Highland ewe) were purchased expressly for this experiment, 

 and great care was exercised in selecting the particular 

 animals that were destined for the plots. All sheep mani- 

 festly above or below the average in point of size or condition 

 were rejected, and in the second season the various lots on 

 the several plots were of so even a character, that there was 

 less than a pound of variation in the average weight of the 

 animals. The sheep cost, shorn, 29s. each in 1897, and 25s. 

 in 1898. 



Each sheep was weighed separately at the end of every 

 month, the difference between the original and final weights 

 giving the total gain in live weight as shown in Table II. 

 For purposes of comparison it is convenient to present all 

 figures in terms of an acre. Thus, the gross weight of the eight 

 sheep on plot 4 was 755 lbs. at the beginning of the season of 

 1897, and 886 lbs. at the termination of the period of grazing. 



