Rcyort on the Field and Feeding Experiments at Wohiirn. 143 
Increase in 
Live-weight. 
Plots. " " " lbs. 
, jFcd-oft" by 10 slicep, with G72 lbs. decorticated) nog 
( cotton-cake; on the land 110 days ) 
jFed-oir by 10 sheep, with 728 lbs. maizc-mcal ;) -or 
^- \ on the land 117 days j 
n (Fed-ofT by 10 sheep, without other food ; on the) o-[oi 
^- \ land 10-1 days f ''^''^ 
. (Fed-off by 10 sheep, without other food; on the) r.^-^ 
) land 104 days ( """^ 
The average gain in live-weight of ten sheep kept on clover- 
seeds without purchased food thus was 281 J lbs. ; and, as they 
were kept on clover for fifteen weeks all but one day, they gained 
12 lbs. per week, or li lb. per head per week. The sheep fed 
upon clover and from i lb. to | lb. of maize-meal per day, or 
altogether 6J cwts. in seventeen weeks, increased 435 lbs. live- 
weight, or made about 25i lbs. per week, or 2}^ lbs. per head 
per week. 
Decorticated cotton-cake did not do so well this year as last 
year, for it will be seen that in a period of sixteen weeks the ten 
sheep gained 238 lbs. live-weight, or, in other words, they 
increased in weight 20j lbs. per week, or 2 lbs. per head per week. 
It must not be concluded that because in 1879 maize produced 
a better result than decorticated cotton-cake it is a more suitable 
food for sheep, for in the two preceding years decorticated 
cotton-cake gave a larger increase in live-weight than maize- 
meal. 
Probably the most economical result by feeding off clover- 
seeds by sheep would be to give them, as additional food, from 
i lb. to f lb. of mixed decorticated cottoncake-meal and maize- 
meal per head per day ; this mixed meal, I am inclined to 
think, will do fattening sheep more good than either meal by 
itself. The reason why cotton-cake did not produce so large 
an increase in the live-weight of sheep that fed-ofF the clover- 
seeds in 1879 as in the previous year, and did not stand so 
good a comparison this year with maize as last year, I believe 
has to be sought in the unhealthy condition of some of the sheep 
in the cotton-cake lot. Several were badly affected by foot-rot, 
and made little flesh for some time, and one suffering from a 
bad mouth and foot-rot lost 18| lbs. in five weeks. 
It should be borne in mind that these experiments were not 
instituted for the purpose of fattening sheep in the most profit- 
able manner on clover-seeds, but with the intention of passing 
through them and incorporating with the land two descriptions 
of purchased food differing widely in composition, decorticated 
cotton-cake being a highly nitrogenous food and maize-meal 
