On the Value of the Oil in Linseed-cake as a Food for Stock. 415 
QuRntity of 
each ingi-eiliL'iit 
ill tile bi^^h oil- 
cake consumed 
per sheep 
during the 
experiment 
Quantity of 
oacli inf?i-('(liont 
in tUu low oil- 
cake consumed 
per sheep 
during the 
experiment 
nigh oil-cake, 
excess o£ 
nutrients over 
low oil-cake 
Low oil-cake, 
excess of 
nutrients over 
high oil-cake 
Moisture .... 
9-77 
10-71 
— 
-94 
12-48 
5-18 
7-30 
Albuminoids . . . 
22-18 
2(1-18 
3-90 
MucilEge, sugar, &c. 
i O 
Woody fibre . . . 
0-88 
6-90 
•02 
Mineral matter . . 
401 
4-35 
•34 
Totals . . . 
77-00 
7700 
7-30 
7-30 
Thus while the high oil pen of sheep took 7 lbs. 4 oz. more 
oil iu their food, the low oil pen had G lbs. more than the 
others of digestible food, consisting chiefly of albuminoids and 
mucilage, &c. in its stead, the residue being water and mineral 
matter. The 7 lbs. •!• oz. excess of total oil, taken during the 
sixteen weeks of the experiment by the entire pen of sheep 
having the more oily cake, is, as nearly as possible, equivalent 
to an excess per sheep, per day, of one ounce only of oil over 
the quantity of oil taken by the sheep of the other pen. When, 
therefore, it is also remembered that this slight deficiency of oil, 
to those sheep receiving least of it, was made up to them by an 
excess of nearly one ounce per head, per daj^, of other highly 
nutritious food, the delicacy and nicety of the experiment will 
be at once appreciated, as well as the care and precaution neces- 
sary to carry it out successfulh' upon living animals subject to 
so many variations and accidents. 
In further reference to the column in Table III. headed 
Rothamsted, it should be explained that some feeding experi- 
ments were carried out by Sir J. B. Lawes nearly forty years 
since upon different breeds of sheep selected with great cai-e 
from the famous breeders of the day. Amongst them were 
specimens of the same breed — the Sussex or Southdown — as 
those which were employed at "Whitlingham, and it is of them 
that particulars are given in the Kothamsted column for the 
purpose of advantageous comparison. The sheep fed in 1850 
Avere 10 lbs. lighter than those fed in 1888-0, and they had also 
had a higher allowance of cake than the Xorfolk ones. 
The figures in the table for all three pens of sheep show that 
the dry food consumed per week, per head, and per equal live 
weight of animal, was in every case almost identical. Thus the 
sheep fed in 1850-1 ate 15'5G, or a trifle over 15^, lbs. of dry 
food, the low oil-cake sheep exactly 15| lbs., and the high oil 
E K 2 
