398 OF STRAW, ITS VALUE, AND USES. 



for about three months consumption of these kinds of 

 stock, and for no others. 



The superiority of this mode of feeding, with a view to 

 economy, will appear from the following observations. An 

 ox that will fatten on a daily allowance of 20 stones of tur- 

 nips, with a small quantity of wheat, or of oat-straw, would 

 require three English stones of hay daily, if fed on hay 

 alone. As an acre of turnips, (30 ton), is, to an acre of hay, 

 (li ton), as 20 to 1; hence ah acre of turnips with straw, 

 will go as far as three acres of hay, whilst the ox, at the 

 same time, will fatten much better, and make three times 

 as much dung.* Straw, therefore, is of great importance 

 in feeding stock, at least in the first stages of fattening, 

 though merely given as a sort of alterative : For it saves 

 hay, which is so expensive a crgp to the fanner. Mr 

 Young, on the other hand, recommends this experiment. 

 Weigh two oxen alive ; put one to straw, and the other 

 to hay, and after four or five months weigh them again, 

 and the comparative value of the food, in regard to its 

 nourishing properties, will then be ascertained. *j- It would 

 be proper, at the same time, to have a third ox weighed, 



* Mr Baillic of Chillingham states, that in several parts of Northum- 

 berland, young cattle get nothing but straw, in a fold-yard, all the winter, 

 and are kept in good condition ; but they have always much more given 

 to them than they can eat, and of course pick out what they like best. 



f There is no doubt that the result of this experiment would be much 

 in favour of hay, for it is admitted that cattle can scarcely subsist on 

 straw alone. It is not urged as a proper food by itself, but it is recom- 

 mended to give it along with turnips, instead of hay and turnips. Make 

 a comparison between two oxen, the one fed on hay and turnips through 

 the whole winter and spring, and the other fed on straw and turnip 

 through winter, and hay and turnip late in spring, and the result, so far 

 as regards economy, will, it is believed, be in favour of the latter prac- 

 tice. 



