OP STRAW, ITS VALUE, AND USES. 40? 



addition of brine or salt was certainly a good plan, and 

 by a similar practice, the straw consumed in this country, 

 might be greatly improved. 



On the whole, any attempt to feed cattle on the straw 

 of grain alone, is not to be recommended. There is too 

 much truth in the remarks, " that with no other food, 

 " working animals are thereby rendered unfit to labour, 

 " dairy cows give but little milk, fattening stock get 

 " lean, and young cattle sometimes die of poverty; and 

 " though the farmer, at the end of winter, may have a 

 " large dunghill, the heap is of so poor a quality, that it 

 " will go but a little way in manuring his fields ;" yet 

 the case is very different, when a moderate use of straw, 

 mixed with turnips, or any other succulent food, is pro- 

 posed ; or when the straw of pulse, with an adequate 

 proportion of corn, is given to working horses.* The price 

 of hay indeed, has now become so enormous, that it must 

 enforce, to a certain degree, the consumption of straw , *f- 

 and that substance may answer, with cattle, in the same 

 manner ascertain less nourishing articles of food would do 

 to the human species. It may be of use, in order to rill 

 the stomach and bowels, without which digestion is but 

 imperfectly accomplished. J It is likewise an important 

 circumstance, that feeding cattle and horses partly with 

 straw, in the winter season, is highly favourable to the 

 soiling system ; for, though it consumes more straw in 



* It is contended, that soft food is only calculated for slow-worked 

 horses. Carrots certainly give the most work, and best condition. Swe- 

 dish turnips the next, and, in moderation, they dfertainly promote the 

 health of horses, and save other articles. Potatoes, if not boiled or 

 steamed, should be sprinkled with salt. 



t Of late years hay has been so very dear, that it is rarely given to 

 black cattle without a mixture of other food, at least in Scotland. 



I Code of Health, vol. i. p. 333. 



