408 On iJie Vahie of the Oil in Liiiseed-calce as a Food for Stoch. 
Upon enquiry into the amount of oil in tlie best sorts of 
linseed-cake accessible to farmers it was for some time found 
impossible to obtain a suitable one for the experiments, and all 
attempts to get one specially manufactured were abandoned, 
after several failures from want of uniformity in the samples. 
Ultimately, by the kind assistance of Dr. Voelcker, the emergency 
was met by his reference to a pure cake containing over 15 per 
cent, of oil — the only cake, so far as we could learn, of this per- 
centage in the market. On the other hand, cakes low in oil are 
not difficult to procure, and a pure one of this character was 
selected. Samples of both these cakes, taken constantly from 
the daily rations as actually given to the sheep, were from time 
to time sent for analysis to the laboratory of the Royal Agri- 
cultural Society, and the different analyses agi'ee very well 
indeed. As a total result of them it may be accurately said 
that the experiment was carried on with two cakes, one of 
which contained between 6 and 7 per cent, of oil, and the other 
between 15-36 and 16'21 per cent — a difference, therefore, of 
from nine to ten per cent, of oil. 
By kind permission of Mr. Garrett Taylor the experiment 
was conducted upon his farm at AVhitlingham near Norwich, 
and much additional assistance was afforded by him to the 
committee, besides the great opportunity of selection from the 
produce of his large and well-kno\\Ti Hock of pure-bred South- 
down sheep. A considerable number of ewe lambs of even 
appearance were first drawn out, when each of them was weighed, 
and a label recording its weight was attached to its neck. 
From these again were selected sixty sheep matching still more 
perfectly to eye and touch, and of pretty equal weights. This 
quantity was then so divided into two lots of thirty each that 
each sheep had, in point of weight, its almost exact duplicate 
in the other pen. Consequently, at the commencement of the 
experiment, the difference in aggregate weiglit between the two 
pens did not exceed two imperial pounds. Thus one pen 
weighed 26cwt. 1 qr. 5 lbs., and the other 26 cwt. 1 qr. 3 lbs. 
We therefore started with sixty sheep singularly uniform in 
type, appearance, and breed — even if they were not closely 
related — and of practically equal weights, whilst all had been 
born almost on the site of the experiment, Avere of the same 
sex, and had lived together upon the same farm and the same 
food since their birth. Moreover, the breed is of the very best 
for making good use of its feeding opportunities. Besides the 
two pens of thirty each under actual experiment, some additional 
and equally matched sheep were next selected for two reserve 
pens. These were fed in exact duplicate with the experimental 
