



i^OL. XXIV. Secokd Series. ROCHESTER, N. Y., DECEMBER, 1863. 



No. 12. 



STRAW FOE FODDER. 



In a recent conversation with John Johnston, 

 md speaking of his success as a farmer, he re- 

 narked: "I should have made more money if I 

 lad found out the value of straw for fodder fifteen 

 'ears earlier." 



There can he no doubt that if wheat, barley or 

 -ats are cut before they are ripe, the straw, when 

 ured without rain, makes valuable fodder. Cl^^m- 

 3al analyses and practical experience alike show 

 his to be true. Sut if the grain is allowed to get 

 ead ripe, or if it is much exposed to rains, there 

 i little more nutriment in the straw than in saw- 

 ust! 



We have always been of the opinion that Ameri- 

 an farmers think too much of straw ! They feed 

 )o much straw and too little grain. When grain 

 ad hay are as hisrh as they are at present, there is 



great temptation to sell all that can he spared, 

 ad to depend on straw to carry the stock through 

 16 winter. Those who do so make a great mis- 

 tke. 



We suspect that what Mr. Johnston meant was, 

 lat he would have done better had he discovered 

 !)oner the benefit of cutting grain earlier and se- 

 iring the straw in good order, and then feeding it 

 it in connection with oil-cake, corn and buck- 

 heat meal, &o. In this way he would have saved 

 large amount of hay, and been enabled to winter 

 ore cattle and sheep. In this he is undoubtedly 

 ^ht. He owes his remarkable success as a farmer, 



a great degree, to his practice of feeding so many 

 eep and cattle in winter — and feeding them well 

 e has fed out on his farm hundreds of tuns of 

 Icake and thousands of bushels of corn. He has 

 ised as much as two thousand bushels of corn in 

 year, but never sold a bushel ! He has made his 

 rm one of the richest and most productive in the 

 ate, but it has not been done by feeding straw. 

 3 is careful to preserve and feed out his straw, 



t he by no means depends on this alone. Straw 



fed in connection with grain, is excellent, but straw 

 alone will starve the cattle and starve the land— 

 and in the end starve the farmer also. 



That there is great difference in the value of 

 straw i)as been fully shown by the analyses of Dr. 

 A^OELOKEK, Dr. Anderson and other chemists. 

 Both these gentlemen found that wheat, barley and 

 oat straw, when tlie grain was not cut until dead 

 ripe, was not half as nutritious as that cut when 

 ripe ; and when tlie grain was cut before it was ripe 

 —as it may be without loss— the difference was still 

 greater. For instance, Dr. Voelokkr analyzed 

 three samples of straw, one "green," another 

 " fairly ripe," and the third " over-ripe." Of solu- 

 ble protein compounds, the green straw contained 

 when dry, 6.56, the ripe 3.13, and the over-ripe 

 1.54 per cent.; of sugar, gum, mucilage and ex- 

 tractive matters, the green contained 19.08, the 

 ripe 12.59, and the over -ripe 3.79 per cent. The 

 total per centage of nitrogen in the dry straw was : 

 green, 1.62; ripe, 0.76; over-ripe, 0.68. 



These are very remarkable results. The amount 

 of protein or flesh-forming compounds in green oat 

 straio is as large as in ordinary meadow hay. The 

 greater portion of this matter, too, is found in a 

 soluble condition, and would therefore be easily 

 digested. As the straw approaches maturity, this 

 nitrogenized matter dwindles down to less than 

 one-half. 



Of sugar, gum, and other matters soluble in 

 water, not less than 19 per cent, are found in the 

 green straw, against less than 4 per cent, in the 

 over-ripe straw. These are the most valuable nu- 

 tritive constituents, and the results show that the 

 straw of oats cut green is four times as nutritious 

 as that allowed to get over-ripe. The sugar, &c., 

 of the straw is turned into indigestible woody 

 fibre. The green straw contains only 25 per cent, 

 of this substance, while the fairly ripe straw con 

 taina 32, and the over- ripe 42 per cent, of this in 

 digestible matter. 



