FOB BETTER CBOPH 107 



order to feed the straw, or to feed the hay and put the straw to 

 other uses. The relative prices of hay and feed will determine 

 this. The manure product becomes more valuable when animals 

 are fed on bran, and this may have some weight in deciding on 

 the winter ration. 



No farmer can afford to waste his straw, whether used as 

 roughage for stock or not. It makes the cheapest and best 

 bedding in the stable, both as an absorbent and to keep the 

 stables clean. By using it liberally and removing it daily, both 

 animals and stables will be clean and comfortable. 



In a berry growing section there is nothing better than straw 

 for mulching the berry fields. Baled straw always commands 

 the highest price, but that price is not always high enough to 

 justify the farmer in selling this valuable by-product and re- 

 moving it from the farm. 



Bran and Middlings — Two other important by-products of 

 the wheat crop are bran and middlings. Bran contains a con- 

 siderable amount of crude fibre, somewhat resembling that 

 contained in straw. It thus furnishes a bulky food and is, at the 

 same time, rich in protein, making it excellent to combine with 

 a corn ration. The high price charged for bran has led the 

 dealers to offer mixtures instead of the pure bran, but in our 

 experience the stock quickly detect the difference, and some- 

 times refuse altogether to eat it. As in most states there are 

 laws requiring the dealer tQ state the contents of any mixtures 

 he offers, it ought to be possible to get the pure article by insist- 

 ing on having it. Middlings are especially valuable in building 

 up healthy and muscular bodies in the case of hogs and horses, 

 but perhaps bran ranks ahead of it for cattle. Middlings, so 

 called, are also offered the farmer, being reground bran with 

 something added to give weight. But in this case, too, the 

 farmer should look for a pure food wiien buying. 



A Fascinating Story — The Story of any crop from the seed 

 back to the seed is fascinating. Every step is important from 

 the preparation of the seed bed, its fertilization and culture, and 

 the implements used, to the time when storing, marketing, and 

 seeding again, have completed the circle. 



Success with haphazard methods will soon be a thing of the 

 past. The American farmer has entered upon a scientific era 

 in which he will use, in so far as they meet his needs, all the dis- 

 coveries of the laboratory, all the helps of the experiment 

 stations and the Department of Agriculture, and all the improved 

 methods and machines demanded by his farm operations. When 

 this is done, the oft expressed fear that increasing populations 

 will outstrip the supply of food will be seen to be groundless. 



Ample Food Supply Assured — This hopeful view is found- 

 ed on investigations made by the Department of Agriculture and 



