On the Feeding of Stock with prepared Food. 
397 
seed, to be consumed on the farm in feeding and rearing stock, at 
least two-thirds of the grass-land, now most unprofitably used in growing 
hay, might be much more jirofitably devoted to grazing and rearing 
cattle, for which the rapidly-increasing population of tliis country al- 
ways furnishes a demand. The superiority of the manure produced 
from stock fed in this manner over common farm-yard manure no one 
•will deny ; and it is difficult to assign limits to the produce of the arable 
land of this countrj', if all the straw were judiciously consumed. 
Comnmnication from H. S. Thompson, Esq. 
Dear Sir, — I have great pleasure in sending you the result of my 
trial of your method of preparing food for cattle. I have not had lime 
to make a long trial, but I have taken some pains to make an accurate 
one. My previous system having been found to work well, I deter- 
mined to give it a fair chance against the new one; and I accordingly 
selected two of the most thriving of a lot of twelve bullocks, of nearly 
the same age and condition, and fed them for the first month on the 
food I had been in the habit of giving, viz., swede turnips, linseed cake, 
and bean meal, in the proportions stated below. Two others, of nearly 
equal weight, had their food prepared according to your directions. All 
four were weighed at 'the commencement of the experiment, viz., 
April 11th, 1846. Their weights are given in Table No. I. The num- 
bers are the numbers of their stalls, to prevent mistakes. Nos. 8 and 9 
were fed in the new way. Nos. 12 and 13 in the old. They were 
weighed a second time on the 15th of May. 
Table, No. I. 
Live weight, April 1 1. Live weight, May 15. Increase'in weight. 
No.ofStal). St. lbs. st. lbs. st. 'lbs. 
8 83 8 88 4 4 10 
9 79 8 85 1 5 7 
12 81 0 85 2 4 2 
13 85 0 89 0 4 0 ' 
Thus it will be seen that the bullocks fed on the old plan gained 8st. 
2 lbs. in five weeks, and those fed on the new way gained 10 st. 3 lbs. in 
the same time. As I was convinced that the two bullocks which had 
made the least progress were, nevertheless, tlie most thriving animals, I 
fur the next month fed all four alike, viz., on swedes, mangold-wurzel, 
and your prepared food. The results are as follows : — 
Table, No. II. 
Live weight, May 15. Live weight, June 15. Licrease in weight. 
No. of Stall. St. lbs. St. lbs. st. lbs. 
8 88 4 92 4 4 0 
9 85 1 90 12 5 11 
12 85 2 92 7 7 5 
13 89 0 96 0 7 0 
The impression that the bullocks No. 12 and 13 were better thrivers 
than Nos. 8 and 9 was, it will be observed, fully borne out when the four 
were fed alike, the latter two having made 14 st- 5 lbs. in the thirty-one 
days, and the former only 9 st. 11 lbs. If we compare the increase of 
weight of the two bullocks, Nos. 12 and 13, when fed on the old plan 
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