388 OF STRAW, ITS VALUE, AND USES. 



to extremes, the rage now is, to use the whole, or nearly 

 the whole, as litter, and to give little, if any, of the straw 

 to stock. 



It is certain that nothing could be more injudicious, 

 than the plan of feeding cattle solely upon straw, with- 

 out the addition of hay, corn, or succulent food. It is 

 justly observed upon this system, by Doctor Singer, that 

 when the winter and spring were severe, and the cattle 

 were fed on straw alone, they sometimes fell off so much, 

 before the new grass made its appearance, that many of 

 them died for the want of sufficient sustenance ; and the 

 rest were so much reduced in condition, that they could 

 hardly stand, or were almost <e at the lifting" as the farm- 

 ers said. It required also, two or three months of good 

 grass, to recover what was lost.f But though the straw 

 of grain alone, unless given in adequate quantities, will 

 hardly maintain, and will never fatten stock, yet the straw 

 of pulse, when well harvested, is certainly valuable for 

 feeding, and will save more expensive articles ; and there 

 is reason to believe, that a certain proportioh of straw, 

 employed in feeding stock, is useful, as well as econo- 

 mical. 



On the subject of feeding in general, Mr Young ob- 

 serves, that the real value of straw to a farmer., when it is 

 consumed in feeding slock,J is a point very difficult to 

 ascertain, depending on a variety of circumstances, and 



t See the Dumfries-shire Report, p. 349. 



^ In Berwickshire, it is not uncommon to take in cattle for straw, and 

 a few turnips, in which case there is seldom more asked than the value 

 of the turnips, and attendance. Since early kinds of oats were so uni- 

 versally sown, and threshing-machines so generally introduced, the value 

 of straw, as fodder, is much diminished. When crops are clean and lux- 

 uriant, and not, as formerly, mixed with grass, the straw, without some 



