On (he Fattening of Oxen. 
213 
periods varying from 5 to no;uly 9 weeks, are compared with 
those of the publislied experiments of Colonel McDouall,* and 
Mr, Templeton,! on the same points, so far as wft have been able 
to estimate them without direct analyses of the foods em- 
ployed : — • 
Takle XI. 
Average 
(lur:!tioii 
of 
E.\|ieri- 
mont. 
Dry Substance of Food consumed. 
Increase 
Experimenters. 
Number 
of 
Animals. 
I'or I load 
per Week. 
Per 100 lbs. 
L!vc- 
weiglit 
per 
Week. 
To produce 
1 lb. 
increase 
in l.ive- 
weight. 
per ) 00 lbs. 
Live- 
weight" 
per \Veck. 
Duke of Bedford 
Colonel McDouall 
Mr. Templeton .. 
44 
.'56 
12 
(lays. 
53 
105 
1.32 
lbs. 
109J 
132 'r 
126' 
lbs. 
11- G 
12- 8 
11-1 
lbs. 
13-1 
13-8 
9-3- 
lbs. 
0- 89 
0 • 92 
1- 19 
Average .. 
(112) 
87 
140^ 
12-1 
13-0 
0-94 
The average result at Woburn was, that 11 '6 lbs. of the dry 
substance of the mixed foods were consumed per 100 lbs. live- 
weight per week, and 13"1 lbs. were required to produce 1 lb. 
increase in live-weight. Thus, oxen fed under cover, and with 
a liberal proportion of cake or corn in their food, consumed per 
week, dry substance equal to nearly one-eighth of their weight, 
and yielded increase equal to less than 1 per cent, of their weight. 
If, however, we reckon the rate of consumption over the whole 
3 months of Experiments 1 and 2, to have been the same as 
during the 2 months when the foods were actually weighed, and 
take the increase at the rate of the 3 months, the average result 
at Woburn would then be, that only 11 "5 instead of 13 "1 lbs. of 
dry substance of food were required to produce 1 lb. increase in 
live-weight. Or, if we altogether exclude from the calculation 
Experiment 1, in which the increase for food consumed was 
certainly very low, the average amount required would be 
11"6 lbs. In either case the increase would then be almost 
exactly 1 per cent, per week, on the weight of the animals. 
In the experiments of Colonel McDouall, some of the oxen 
were fed in boxes, some in stalls, and some in open sheds. The 
food generally consisted of cake or corn in somewhere about the 
same proportion to the weights of the animals as in the Woburn 
experiments ; straw-chafF in considerably less proportion than 
clover-hay chafi" was given at Woburn ; and roots in larger pro- 
portion. Upon the whole, the dry substance of the mixed ibod 
would be of rather higher quality in the Woburn experiments. 
* ' Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society of England,' vol. xiii. pp. 113-123. 
t Ibid., vol. xvi. pp. 163-9. 
