44)6 OF STRAW, ITS VALUE, AND USES. 



is much more nutritive, than from land of inferior qua- 

 lity; as to climate, it is asserted, that the straw of wheat, 

 barley, and oats, contains more saccharine matter, in the 

 southern, than in the northern provinces of France ; and 

 that the superior sweetness of the one, over the other, may 

 be ascertained by masticating it.* In good seasons, there-^ 

 fore, it must be better in this country, than when they 

 are unfavourable. 



The straw of some varieties of wheat, have a pith re- 

 sembling rushes, It has not yet been ascertained whether 

 the straw of those kinds of wheat, be in any respect more 

 valuable, than the common sorts : But there is no doubt 

 that the straw of autumnal-sown wheat, is more harsh, and 

 less agreeable to cattle, than the straw of wheat sown in 

 the spring.*}- 



It is remarked, that the straw of corn, is weaker in 

 countries where the vegetation is rapid, as in Scotland ; 

 than in the southern counties of England, where the growth 

 is slower and more regular ; and that the straw of crops of 

 barley, sown in the month of March, or beginning of April, 

 grows shorter between the joints, and is much stiffer, than 

 the straw of those crops, sown in the latter end of April, 

 or beginning of May ; which latter crops, in wet seasons, 

 generally^// down, when the former stand. 



The ancients used to prepare their straw for feeding 

 stock in a particular manner. It was cut down earlier, or 

 in a greener state, than other straw ; it lay for a consider- 

 able time sprinkled with brine, it was then dried, rolled 

 up in bundles, and given to the oxen instead of hay .J The 



* Cours Complet D' Agriculture, par Rozier, Voce Paille, 



t Middlesex Report, p. 220. 



J Dickson's Husbandry of the Ancients, vol. ii. p. 409. 



