64 Experiments on the Comparative Fattening Qualities 
From the circumstance, too, of the sheep being rather under 
fattened, the proportion of carcass to live weight is generally 
somewhat small among these three lots of sheep. In the Table the 
proportion of dead or carcass weight, calculated both to the un- 
lasted and the fasted live-weight, is given. But as in the wnfasted 
condition the animals are likely to retain much more variable 
amounts of unassimilated food — affecting therefore considerably 
the weight of the stomach and intestines — the percentage of 
carcass in the fasted weight gives us the safest ground of com- 
parison. Among the sheep of largest increase we see a slight 
tendency to a greater percentage of carcass among the Leicesters 
than the cross-breds. Among those of the smallest increase, on 
the other hand, the difference is in favour of the cross-breds ; 
and it is here also more marked than with the lots of largest 
increase. Among these lots of smallest increase, too, the cross » 
bred eices give a markedly better proportion of carcass than the 
wethers. The mean percentage relation of carcass to fasted 
weight, among the sheep of medium rate of increase, is curiously 
identical for the three descriptions of sheep. It is also, as seen 
in the bottom line of the summary, very nearly identical for the 
three lots, taking the mean of the whole 16 killed in each case. 
It is, however, slightly better Avith the cross-breds than with the 
Leicesters ; and, among the former, slightly better with the ewes 
than with the wethers. 
Considering the general points of contrast between the Leices- 
ter and Southdown sheep — and especially the admitted greater 
tendency of the former to fatten in carcass and come early to 
maturity — we should perhaps have anticipated a better propor- 
tion of dead or carcass to live-weight among the Leicesters than 
the cross-breds ; and more especially so under the circumstances 
of our experiment, in which its perhaps somev/hat premature 
termination would, we should suppose, have been more adverse 
to the cross-bred than to the generally earlier ripening pure 
Leicesters. We leave it to the reader to decide whether the 
results, as tlie figures show them, should be considered true indi- 
cations of the comparative qualities of pure Leicesters and cross- 
breds ; or whether the obviously greater irregularity among the 
sheep composing our flock of tiie pure breed should be taken as 
evidence of a less successful selection for the purposes of our 
experiment in their case than in that of the cross-breds. 
The only further point to notice, relating to the dead-^ceights, 
is as to the proportion of loose or inside fat. The general dis- 
tinctive character of Leicesters and Downs is pretty well borne 
out by the figures under this head. Thus, notwithstanding the 
considerable variation in the amounts yielded by individuals 
within each breed, there is an obvious tendency in the cross- 
