EXPERIMENTS ON FATTENING SHEEP. 97 
which was very acid. ‘The corn from which it was made failed 
largely to ear, on account of the drouth which prevailed dur- 
ing summer and fall of 1894. A great deal of the corn was 
actually drying up, and the last of August it was decided to 
cut it up and put it into the silo. The result proved that it 
was a grave mistake; a portion of the corn was immature and 
would have grown a great deal more had it been allowed to 
stand two or three weeks longer. It was this immature green 
corn that soured the whole lot and made it a very inferior feed 
for lambs. In stock feeding it is generally conceded that a 
certain amount of acid in the feed promotes digestion. An 
excess of acid, however, is injurious. ‘This theory is well 
uUlustrated during the first two months of feeding. By increas- 
ing the relative proportion of grain to the ensilage, the diff- 
culty was overcome. ‘The lambs immediately took on a thrifty 
appearance, ate nearly half as much again of grain, besides 
taking 4oo pounds more of ensilage during the second month 
than they did the first. As will be noticed, their gain for the 
first month was 4.2 pounds to the lamb, while they gained 10.4 
pounds apiece the second month. In February the gain in 
weight was at the rate of 8.3 pounds to the lamb for a period 
of thirty-one days. 
It would seem at first thought unfortunate that these feeding 
experiments should have been undertaken under such unfavor- 
able circumstances. ‘The inferior ensilage rendered it 1mpossi- 
ble to make the experiments in all respects successful, but we 
do not always acquire the most knowledge from our successes. 
One failure may in the end add more to our knowledge than 
many successful ventures. 
METHODS PRACTICED IN HANDLING THE SHEEP. 
I will now briefly sketch our methods of managing the flocks. 
We begin buying lambs in October or November. ‘They all 
come from the stock yards in Buffalo. We aim to buy lambs 
from sixty to sixty-five pounds in weight, in good flesh, and 
with as much of ‘‘Down’’ blood in their veins as possible. 
We avoid the Merino, as well as the Leicester and Cotswold. 
The former will not make first-class mutton, and the latter are 
inclined to put on too much fat in proportion to the lean, 
besides not feeding well in large flocks. As soon as the lambs 
