of different Breeds of Sheep. 
71 
In Table XVI. it is seen that, upon the estimates assumed, 
the 40 fat Leicester sheep, with their wool, sold for only 2s. 
more than the cost of tlie lambs, together with that of the oil- 
cake and clover-chaff ; leaving, tlierefore, the manure of the cake, 
clover, and turnips to pay for the turnips and attendance, lodg- 
ing, &c. 
Balancing the cross-breds on the same plan, it is seen that the 
wethers give 5/. 6s. lOf/., and the ewes 5/. lis. 2d., besides their 
manure, to pay for the turnips, attendance, &c. 
This kind of calculation would therefore tell very much in 
favour of the cross-breds in this particular experiment. But it 
may be well to observe that a reduction of 2s. 6c?. per head on 
•the price of the Leicester lambs — that is, if we charge them the 
same as the cross-bred wethers, at 34s., instead of 36s. 6c?. — 
would bring them to pretty nearly an equality with the other 
lots. Before, therefore, any reliance can be placed in the com- 
parison between Leicesters and cross-breds which this balance- 
sheet shows, it should be decided what in practice would, on the 
average, be the relative cost of Leicester lambs averaging 101 lbs. 
per head, and of cross-bred wethers weighing 95 lbs. And with 
a view to a judgment on this point, it may be mentioned that our 
actual prices on this occasion represent the Leicesters as costing 
about 4:d. more per 100 lbs. live weight than the cross-breds. 
We suppose, therefore, the price paid for the Leicesters to be 
relatively somewhat too high. The actual prices adopted also 
represent the cross-bred ewes as worth ^d. or 4c?. more per 100 
lbs. live weight than the wethers ; and considering their slightly 
better yield, both of wool and meat, for food consumed, it is 
perhaps not unfair to estimate the ewe lambs as fully equal in 
value, weight for weight, to the wethers. Assuming, then, the 
relative prices of the ewe and wether lambs to have been fair, our 
balance-sheet shows an advantage of a few shillings on the 40 
sheep in favour of the ewes over the wethers, and certainly we 
<iid find them to give slightly the best account of the food they 
consumed. 
Upon the whole, then, the general results of this comparative 
trial between the Leicesters and their cross with the South-Down 
are : — 
That the cross-breds consumed slightly more food, in relation 
to a given weight of animal, within a given time, than the 
Leicesters. 
That the Leicesters and cross-bred wethers consumed all but 
identical amounts of food to produce a given amount of increase, 
and the cross-bred ewes rather less than either. 
That the cross-breds yielded slightly the most increase upon a 
given weight of animal within a given time. 
