a few words on an early example of designed experiment, in honor of an old time friend

Source d.f. SS MS % Fexp Fodder 3 139062 46354 21 8.40 Month 3 463438 154479 70 27.98 Breed 3 27500 9167 4 1.66 Error 6 33125 5521 5 - Total 15 663125 - - -

A few words on an

early example of

designed experiment,

in honor

of an old time friendSource d.f. SS MS % Fexp Fodder 3 139062 46354 21 8.40 Month 3 463438 154479 70 27.98 Breed 3 27500 9167 4 1.66 Error 6 33125 5521 5 - Total 15 663125 - - -


Société Royale d’Agriculture à Paris

Trimestre d’été, lu le 31 Juillet 1788.


François Cretté de Palluel, landowner in

Palluel, Blaru, Pontgalland & Dugny,

undertook a number of investigations on

feeding of livestock, experimenting on a

variety of fodder, including:

… Avoine, Betterave, Chicorée,

Grains, Fourrages de choix, Orge,

Pommes de terres, Turneps …


•F



• An experimental investigation on stock

farming in the Ancien Régime

• Designed experiments were performed over a

century before the birth of R.A. Fisher; results

however were analyzed up to some extent only,

for want of proper techniques.

• A neat 4x4 Latin square design was devised by

François Cretté de Palluel, for a comparative

study on sheep farming. Four different breeds, as

many types of fodder, and time periods were

considered.


A 4x4 Latin Square


Breeds: Élève du pays, Beauceron,

Champenois, Picard

Fodder: Turneps, Betteraves, Grains,

Pomme de terre

Slaughter date: 20th of February,

March, April and May



Among responses considered, besides

overall weight increase (initial weight being

given for every sheep), were weight of wool,

blood, skin, legs and head, bowels, fat, and

meat.

Weight increase (both absolute, and

relative) was largest in the first month, and

kept decreasing over the following three.


Analysis of variance pertaining to the fat part

of the sheep. Month and fodder have both highly

significant effects.


• ---

Source d.f. SS MS % Fexp Fodder 3 139062 46354 21 8.4 Month 3 463438 154479 70 28 Breed 3 27500 9167 4 1.7 Error 6 33125 5521 5 - Total 15 663125 - - -


Effect of breed RA and fodder FO on increase in weight DW

4321

14,4

14,2

14,0

13,8

13,6

13,4

13,2

13,04321

RArn

Mean

FOrn

Main Effects Plot for DW1Fitted Means


Interaction between breed RA and fodder FO

12

34

1

2

3

4

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

DW1

RArn

FOr


Cretté de Palluel showed that

unexpensive vegetables, particularly

those unfit as food for humans, could

be profitably exploited as sheep

fodder in winter to provide meat at

reasonable cost even at times of

famine, then a not uncommon

occurrence in Europe.



A remarkably “modern”

feature of Cretté de Palluel’s

investigation appears in his efforts

to cover, with a small number of

tests, a broad range on all factors

considered, in order to derive

results valid over a comprehensive

experimental space.



• Times were awful for many people, including enlightened experimenters. Jailed at the Conciergerie together with other leading scientists during the Terror, Cretté de Palluel was however luckier than Lavoisier.

• Thanks to the Thermidorians (who cut short both the régime of Robespierre, and his neck), he managed to survive the French revolution.

a few words on an early example of designed experiment, in honor of an old time friend

Documents

fodder fo slide

weight dw slide

sheep fodder

turneps f slide

old time friend slide

picard fodder

types of fodder

variety of fodder