OF STRAW, ITS VALUE, AND USES. 



great height, the stubble is mown afterwards, close to the 

 ground, and collected for that purpose. Thatching with, 

 broom, however, if it can easily be had, is by some thought 

 preferable to straw for corn stacks.* In regard to stacks 

 or ricks of hay, it is the practice of Weusley-dale, ip/York* 

 shire, (see vol. II. p. 58), not to cover them with straw, 

 when the rick is built of a cylindrical shape below, and a 

 conical shape above. In that district, ricks are carried 

 up to so regular a point, and roped so closely and neatly, 

 that they are neither injured by time nor tempest. 



In some districts, straw, mixed with clay, is used, for 

 building the walls of houses or gardens ;*f- and with the 

 same mixture, for the roofs of houses, instead of the com- 

 mon mode of thatching. J 



There is a singular mode of using straw, adopted in some 

 parts of Lincolnshire, namely, burning it for manure. Straw, 

 there, is of little value, being worth only from 4 s. to 5 s. 

 per ton ; and from five to six ton, which is spread dry on 

 the ground, is said to be sufficient for an acre. This prac- 

 iice, however, is not to be recommended. In the process, 

 nineteen parts out of twenty will be dissipated in the air 

 in the state of gas, and the small quantity of ashes left, if 

 found to be useful, might be supplied much cheaper, by 

 sowing pot-ash by the hand, (j 



In districts on the sea-shore, it is common for experi- 

 enced farmers, to keep in reserve a considerable proportion 

 of their wheat or barley-straw, and to make it into a dung- 

 hill, alternately with the sea-ware, stratum super stratum. 



* Scots Farmer, p. 595. 



t Statistical Account of the Parish of Dornock. 



J Report of Sutherland. 



Agricultural Report of Lincolnshire, p. 267. 



j) Remark by Mr Clerk of Mayh'eld. 



