On the Feeding of Stock. 237 
by suggesting questions which elicit answers — such as would not 
have been hazarded in more formal statements, but nevertheless 
are highly serviceable, if not conclusive. No one would wish 
to tie Professor Voelcker rigidly down to the opinion which 
he was kind enough to give in reply to an inquiry, at the 
end of his lecture on oilcake before the Royal Agricultural 
Society, as to the proportion of nitrogenous matter extracted 
by an animal eating oilcake. His reply showed how much >ve 
were at sea on that question, whilst at tlie same time It suggested 
an hypothesis on which practical men will probably do well to 
act pending further Information. I refer to his statement that 
about one quarter of the nitrogenous matter In the cake was pro- 
bably extracted by the animal.* 
If we assume then that the fatting sheep consumes one-fourth 
of the nitrogenous substances given In oilcake, and suppose 
that a lamb extracts say one-fourth more than the sheep, the 
loss of nitrogen from feeding the lamb Instead of the sheep 
would be represented by \ of \, or 1-1 6th, a loss which must 
be estimated at the money value of the substances, not as food, 
but as manure ; and such a loss as the profit of a good crop 
of lambs will appear fully to make up for. But if ewes 
and lambs do extract more of the goodness out of their food, 
on the other hand, the folding which they leave in April 
and May answers admirably for forcing the feed on warm, quick 
layers, and is turned to account probably for three successive 
growths before the following October ; each growth being in- 
creased in consequence of the increased folding left when Its 
predecessor was depastured, to an extent which. If the artificial 
food was continued, would be expressed by a geometric ratio, 
because each time the more feed there is the slower the fold 
will be moved, and the more extra food consumed on a given 
area : so true is it In farming, that man at times, and nature at 
all times, will give more to that which hath already. But, in 
speaking of the benefits of keeping a breeding flock, I do not 
mean such kind of keeping as makes it a hard matter for a ewe 
to bring up twins satisfactorily, but such as on poor land will, 
in a good season, give nearly 100 pairs of twins from a flock of 
* When, further, the Professor seemed disposed to estimate the manuring value 
of the dung, as derived from the cake, as high as half the value of tlie cake itself, 
he was passing beyond. the regions of pure science on to more debatable ground, 
on which practical men have some power of forming a judgment tor themselves ; 
and it may be doubted whether he made sutHcient allowance for the difference of 
the value, which the same substance bears according as it is designed for food or 
for manure. This difference may probably be greater in the case of phosphates 
than of nitrogen, because we have such a cheap and ready supply of the former 
in the manure market ; a consideration not to be overlooked when we are treating 
of the rearing of young stock, which draw largely on the phosphates for the for- 
mation of bone. 
