OF STRAW, ITS VALUE, AND USES. 409 



Others would prefer a middle coarse, that of eating one 

 half, and converting the rest into short or long dung.* 



Straw, when mixed with the dung and the urine of cat- 

 tle, horses, &c. &c. is a rich and excellent manure ; but 

 even alone, when ploughed in, or decomposed by pure 

 simple water, it is of use. All the various sorts of straw 

 answer the purposes of litter. Some farmers contend, that 

 r} r e-stra\v is the best litter ; others prefer the straw of 

 wheat, which absorbs, it is said, so much urine and moist- 

 ure, that a cart of wheat-straw is supposed equal in value, 

 to three carts of well-made dung. In England, the straw 

 of peas and beans is extremely valuable, forming, it is 

 said, when well broken by threshing, a desirable litter for. 

 working horses, hogs, and other stock ; but in Scotland, 

 it is never used as litter, unless it has been spoilt by bad 

 management, or a most unfavourable season in harvest, as 

 its feeding properties are there so well known. Littering, 

 it is said, is of use, not only for converting straw into ma- 

 nure, but for keeping the animals warm and dry. In fact, 

 cattle cannot be soiled on clover, or fed on turnips, with- 

 out abundance of litter. 



There are four modes of converting straw into dung, by 

 littering stock. 1. In stalls or stables; 2. In hammels; 



therefore, comparatively speaking, meets with small attention ; whilst, 

 in Norfolk, arable husbandry is extensively followed, and of course straw 

 is a most abundant article. 



* Short dung does not depend upon the length of the straw from which 

 it is made. Short muck, is farm-yard dung, that has undergone putre- 

 faction, to which fermentation is necessary, whether. the straw is long or 

 short. Perhaps straw cut short, might accelerate fermentation, by ab- 

 sorbing a greater portion of moisture, and a practice of this nature, might 

 be useful, by accelerating fermentation, when, from want of turnips, it' 

 is found difficult to convert straw into manurei 



