On the Feeding of Stock. 
245 
("lossed witli a Leicester ram. With this design a ram \v;is 
bought of Mr. Powlett in 1853 and put to the inferior Norfolk 
ewes, that inferiority being often in point of colour, not of size, 
and conse{juently a matter of fancy. The question to determine 
was whether the cross-bred woukl have so much the advantage 
in wool, and in early maturity, and weight for the butcher, as to 
compensate for the diminished value of the ewe-hogget, which 
would be no longer in request for breeding purposes. The 
decision was against the cross-breeding : because although the 
gain in meat during the process of fatting was considerable, still 
the growth during the winter was less vigorous, and the value 
ultimately attained not greater. The effect on the wool was dis- 
appointing, amounting only to the difference between 5S-V lbs. 
and 60 lbs. on 10 fleeces in one year, and that between 66 lbs. 
and 69 lbs. on 11. fleeces in the next: a difference which the 
improvement since made in the wool of the black-faced breed 
would quite efface, as our ewe-hoggets now average 7 lbs. 
throughout in a good season, and selected fleeces Aveigh 9, 10, 
and 11 lbs. apiece. 
To determine these points, in February, 1854, one lot of 10 
black-faced and a second lot of 10 half-bred Leicester and black- 
faced hoggets were put into two pens and fed alike on swedes 
and linseed-cake for 2 months and 11 days. At the commence- 
ment the first lot weighed 62 lbs. more than the second ; at the 
end 8 lbs. less.. The butcher reported that the dead weight of 
the former 10 was 652 lbs., that of the latter 668 lbs. ; showing 
a difference of 16 lbs. in dead weight, corresponding to one of 
8 lbs. in the live weight, and all this in spite of one of the second 
lot being ill, without which drawback the aggregate weight of 
the second lot would probably have been increased by 20 lbs. 
In the following season, 1854-55, the comparison between the 
half-bred Leicester and the Norfolk was renewed. The selected 
lots were weighed in July and September^ that any variations in 
the earlier growth and development of the two breeds might be 
noted, and an eleventh supernumerary hogget was added to each 
lot to guard against accidents. Every sheep, however, throve 
well, so that the trial was in this respect thoroughly satisfactory, 
lor the lots were very level and the progress very uniform. 
It is to be remarked that lot 2— that with Leicester blood — 
weighed 8 lbs. more than lot 1 in July; but in September the 
scale had turned by 10 lbs. in favour of lot 1. At midwinter 
this had increased to 57 lbs. in favour of the hardier sheep ; but 
again, by the 15th of May, under the fatting process and in a 
milder season, the advantage of lot 1 had diminished to 15 lbs. 
The two lots, when sold, were considered by the butcher to be^ 
of equal value : lot 1 the turn heavier, but lot 2 rather more 
