The Grasses, Fresh and Cured. 193 



Crops of the cereals which have made too heavy a growth of 

 straw because of wet weather usually lodge badly, and when this 

 occurs the yield of grain is unsatisfactory. Such overgrown grain 

 can be converted into hay with more profit than would result from 

 a light crop of poor grain, which costs much to harvest. 



280. Straw. While primarily used for bedding purposes, the 

 softer kinds, especially oat and barley straw, are serviceable for 

 feeding purposes. In Canada and England chaifed straw is com- 

 monly mixed with pulped roots and the mass allowed to soften 

 and even ferment slightly; thus prepared, cattle readily consume 

 large quantities with satisfactory returns. Oat straw, because of 

 its nutrients and its soft, pliable stems, leads for feeding purposes, 

 with barley following. Wheat straw, being coarse and stiff, is 

 not as satisfactory, though some will be eaten by cattle. Bye 

 straw is woody, harsh and should be used for bedding purposes. 



281. Chaff. Wheat and oat chaff contain more protein than 

 straw, and because of their fineness and softness they are useful in 

 feeding stock. Often with chaff there are found light and broken 

 kernels which have escaped the threshers; by these the value of 

 chaff, so called, is materially increased. 



282. Flax straw. Where flax is grown for the seed, the straw 

 or haulm is generally wasted. Stockmen who have fed flax straw 

 to horses and cattle report satisfactory results from its use. Fre- 

 quently some flax seed is left in the straw, which increases its 

 value. There seems no foundation for the statement that the fiber 

 of flax straw forms balls of indigestible matter in the stomachs of 

 farm animals. It is no doubt digested the same as other fibrous 

 matter the lint of cotton, for example. Some flax straw may 

 always be fed, and during times of scarcity it will prove a boon 

 to the stockman who overcomes his prejudice and supplies it freely 

 to his hungry animals. 



283. Ergot. At times the grains of the rye plant and seeds of 

 the grasses are attacked by a fungus called ergot which causes 

 them to become several times their normal size. Ergot grains 

 are usually spur-like in form, quite rigid, and nearly black in 

 color. Being quite large on rye, ergot grains may be detected 

 when the observer is some distance away. On the heads of the 



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