THE GENESEE FARMER. 



THE FEEDING VALUE OF STKAW. 



141 



It is truly snrprisinoj how apt men are to run 

 into extremes. Scientific men and practical men 

 and men who are neither practical nor scientific; 

 Doctors of Divinity and Doctors of Physic ; char- 

 latans and men of sound learning— all are liable to 

 fall into this common error. In ethics, in religion, 

 in politics, and even in agriculture, the world 

 moves like the pendulum of a clock. We progress 

 a little, but it is a Virginia rail-fence kind of pro- 

 gress. The history of agricultural science and 

 practice is like the track of a sailing vessel on the 

 ocean— first east and then west, occasionally di- 

 rectly forward, and not unfrequently retrograding, 

 but still, on the whole, getting nearer the desired 

 haven of— Truth. Look at the history of the 

 ammoniacal and mineral manure theory, of thick 

 and thin seeding, of fallows and no fallows, or of 

 a score of other controverted subjects about which 

 60 much ink has been spilled during the last half 

 century ! The truth has been arrived at by a very 

 zigzag road, but it has been found at last; and all 

 well-informed readers have settled down to a mid- 

 dle course between the disputants. 



The nutritious value of straw is now one of the 

 controverted subjects of agricultural writers. It 

 will prove no exception to the general rule. One 

 class of writers will undervalue it, and another 

 class will hold it in the most extravagant estima- 

 tion. For many years, in England especially, it has 

 been considered of comparatively little value ex- 

 cept for litter, and it seems now as though straw 

 would be placed high in the scale of nutritious 

 foods. In fact, it is likely to be fully as much 

 Overrated as it has been undervalued. 



We have already laid before our readers the re- 

 mits of a number of analyses of straw by Dr. 

 VoELOKER. (See Genesee Farmer for July ^18G2, p. 

 501.) The article will well repay a second read- 

 ng. A few days since, Prof. 0. A. Cameron, of 

 Dublin, communicated to the Royal Agricultural 

 jociety of Ireland the results of some analyses of 

 rish oat and wheat straw, which a'^cord, in the 

 nain, with the previous analyses of Dr. Voelokee. 

 rhey indicate, however, that the Iriah straw is 

 nuch more nutritious than that of Scotland, as 

 inalysed by Dr. Andekson, (Highland and Ag. 

 Society's Journal, March, 1862.) They are, how- 

 :ver, not quite as nutritious as the straws of Eng- 

 and. Why there should be this difference is not 

 tated, but we suppose it is owing to the fact that 

 he English summers are warmer; and if this is 

 he reason, our American straws would be still 



more nutritious, and this may account for the fact 

 that American farmers place a higher value on 

 straw as fodder for cattle and sheep than the Eng- 

 lish farmers. 



Dr. Cameron is inclined, we think, to place too 

 high a value on straw. He says : 



"As compared with white turnips, the nutritive 

 value of oat straw stands very high ; for while the 

 former contain but little more than 1 per cent of 

 flesh-formers, and less than 5 per cent, of 'fat- 

 formers, the latter includes about 4 per cent of 

 flesh-formers, and 13 per cent, of fat-formers. 

 Agam, while the amount of woody fibre in turnips 

 IS only about 8 per cent., that substance constitutes 

 no less than 60 per cent, of oat straw. In com- 

 parison with hay— taking into consideration the 

 prices of both articles— oat straw also stands high. 

 " Woody fibre is as abundant a constituent of the 

 straw of the cereals as starch is of their seeds, and 

 if the two substances were equally digestible, straw 

 would be a very valuable food-^superior even to 

 the potato. At one time it was the general belief 

 that woody fibre was incapable of contributing in 

 the slightest degree to the nutrition of animals, 

 but the results of recent investigations prove that 

 it is, to a certain extent, digestible. In the sum- 

 mer of 1859 two German chemists, Stoiokhardt 

 and Sussdorf, made a series of experiments, with 

 a view of ascertaining whether or not the cellulosa 

 of the food of the sheep is assimilated by that ani- 

 mal. The results of this inquiry are of importance 

 seeing that they clearly prove that even the hardest 

 kinds of cellulose are capable of being assimilated 

 by the ruminants. The animals selected were two 

 wethers, aged respectively five and six years. They 

 were fed— Istly, upon hay alone; 2ndly, upon hay 

 and rye straw ; Srdly, upon hay and the sawdust 

 of poplar wood, which had been exhausted with 

 lye. (To induce the sheep to eat the 'sawdust, it 

 was found necessary to mix through it some rye- 

 bran and a little salt.) 4thly, hay and pine wood 

 sawdust, to which was added bran and salt ; fifthlj^, 

 spruce sawdust, bran and salt; sixthly, hay, pulp 

 of linen rags (from the paper-maker), and bran. 

 The experiments were carried on from July until 

 Noven-i'ber, excepting a short time, during which 

 the animals were turned out on pasture land, to re- 

 cover from the injurious effects of the fifth series 

 of experiments — produced probably by the resin 

 of the spruce. The animals, together with their 

 food, drink and egesta, were weighed daily. The 

 amount of cellulose in the food was determined, 

 and the proportion of that substance in the egesta 

 was also ascertained ; and as there was a consid- 

 erable discrepancy between the two amounts, it 

 was evident that the difference represented the 

 weight of the cellalcse assiin;]i;ted by the animaL. 

 In this way it was ascertained that from 60 to 70 

 per cent, of the cellulose of hay, 40 to 60 per cent, 

 of the cellulose of straw, 45 to 50 per cent, of the 

 cellulose of the poplar wood, 30 to 40 per cent, of 

 the cellulose of pine, and 80 per cent, of the cel- 

 lulose of the paper pulp was digested. 



" In stating the results of his analyses of the 

 straws. Prof. Voklcker sets down as ' digestible' 

 that portion of the cellulose which he found to be 

 soluble in dilate acids and alkaline eolations; but 



