Experiments on the Feeding of Sheep. 
193 
STieadovv-ha}' cliafF, all 4 pens were sui)plic(l with this food alone, 
nnd M'ater (each <t(l Hint urn), for a preliminary period of 8 weeks, 
namely, up to January 25, 1861. It was intended that from this 
date the sheep in one pen thould have hay-chaff alone ; in a 
second, hay-chaff, Avith a certain amount of straw-chaff to increase 
the projjortion of woody fvhrc ; in the third, a limited (juantity 
of ground barley, with hay-chaff ad lihitiun ; and in the fourth, 
besides hay-chaff ad libitum, beans containing nitrogen equal to 
that in the barley of pen 3, and the deficiency of starch in the 
smaller quantity of beans compared with that in the barley, to be 
made up bv oil, in the proportion of 1 part of oil for 2^ parts of 
starch, this being (in round numbers) theoretically the relation 
of the two substances in respiratory and fat-forming capacity. 
The object was to supply in one of the dietaries only so much 
<ligestible matter beyond the cellulose or woody-fibre as would 
just keep the animals from losing weight, in fact to provide them 
with mere sustenance, not fattening food. It was found, how- 
ever, that even this condition was not maintained when any straw- 
chaff was mixed with the hay. Accordingly, after a few weeks' 
trial, any admixture of straw was abandoned ; hay-chaff alone 
was adopted as the standard or mere sustenance food, and the 
following was the final arrangement of the experiments : — 
Pen 1. Meadow-hay-chaff alone, ad libitum. 
Pen 2. 1 lb. of ground beans per head per day ; meadow-hay- 
chaff ad libitum. 
Pen 3. 1 lb. of ground barley per head per day ; meadow-hay- 
chaff ad libitum. 
Pen 4. About ounces of ground beans, and about 3;^ ounces 
of linseed oil, per head per day ; meadow-hay-chaff ad libitum. 
All the sheep had, in addition, an unlimited supply of water 
always within their reach, of which, after the first 4 weeks of the 
experimental period, the quantity taken was determined. 
The above quantities of beans and linseed oil given in Pen 4, 
were those settled at the commencement by calculation, taking 
an assumed average composition for barley and beans ; but the 
amounts were after a time slightly varied, when analyses of the 
foods actually employed were made, and then again when fresh 
stocks were brought into use, and fresh analyses made accord- 
ingly. 
The experiments were continued as above described till Sep- 
tember 6, 18G1, that is, for a period of 40 weeks from the time 
the sheep were first put up, and of 32 weeks from the time thev 
commenced with the special foods. They were then killed, and 
the weights of the carcass and other parts determined. 
The results are recorded in a series of Tables, as follow — those 
given in Tables I. and II. relating to both the " Preliminary " 
VOL. xxril. o and 
