OP STRAW, ITS VALXTB, AND USES. 387 



bay did not fetch, at that time, more than from 8 d. to 

 yd. per stone. 



3. 



On the various Purposes to which Straw is applicable. 



These may be considered under the following general 

 heads: 1. Feeding stock ; 2. Litter; 3. Thatching ; and, 

 4. Miscellaneous purposes. 



1. Feeding Stock, 



In former times, the supporting of stock was the great 

 object to which straw was applied. Almost every blade was 

 devoted to that purpose, and scarcely any left to litter the 

 stalls. The husbandry of the celebrated Bakewell was then 

 much commended, who used no straw for litter, but if he 

 had more than his own cattle would consume, would ra- 

 ther take in those of his neighbour, to eat the straw for 

 nothing, giving them the same attendance as his own, 

 than use it for litter.* No species of dung was then valued, 

 that had not passed through the body of an animal ; and 

 if by littering, more muck was made, yet the dung of 

 straw, when eaten, it was contended, was more profitable. 

 Bakewell, however, after trying it for several years, was 

 convinced by experience,- that he had adopted an errone- 

 ous system, and, with his usual sagacity, he resolved to 

 litter his stock amply, for the sake of dung, and not for 

 the benefit of his cattle.*^ As people are too apt to run 



* Farmer's Tour through the East of England, vol. i. p. 120. 

 t Annals of Agriculture, vol. vi. p. 487 



