Composition and Nutritive Value of Straw. 9 



counsels and exaggerated statements of theorists, who are incom- 

 petent to form a sober and unbiassed opinion on a moot 

 question. We know, indeed, that the condition of the woody 

 fibre affects the nutritive value of all food in no mean degree. 

 Whilst in root-crops left too long growing on the land, or the 

 fibre of grass and clover left standing until dead-ripe, these 

 tissues are not readily digested, there can be no doubt that 

 the soft fibre of young grass, clover, and roots is readily 

 assimilated in the animal organism, and transformed into starch, 

 sugar, and finally into fat. For this reason grain-crops, more 

 especially oats, when harvested early, produce straw which 

 is greatly more nutritious than that of an over-ripe crop. In 

 some parts of Scotland it is customary to cut the oat when the top 

 of the haulm is still quite green ; and it is upon straw of that 

 description that store cattle are kept during the winter almost 

 entirely. The variable condition in which grain-crops, as well 

 as peas and beans, are harvested in England, fully explains the 

 various shades 'of opinion which are entertained by practical men 

 respecting the feeding properties of the straw of these crops, and 

 the contradictory statements of writers on this subject. 



For the same reason the practical solution of the question 

 whether woody fibre is digestible or not, is surrounded by pecu- 

 liar difficulties. Taking experience for our guide, it may be 

 answered with equal truth in the affirmative or in the negative ; 

 for in a young, tender condition we know from experience that 

 cellular and woody fibre is digestible, whilst in a hard, dry, 

 over-ripe state it is for the most part indigestible. Direct feeding 

 experiments, highly desirable though they may be, will leave 

 much uncertainty, however carefully they have been made, 

 unless special regard is paid to the condition in which the straw 

 is given to the animals ; and after all, as it is not possible to 

 describe with absolute precision its state of maturity and condi- 

 tion, no practical feeding experiment, be it ever so carefully 

 conducted, can afford absolute numerical results, indicative of the 

 extent to which the woody fibre is digestible in all, or even the 

 majority, of instances. 



Feeding experiments instituted for the purpose of ascertaining 

 to what extent the woody fibre of food is assimilated in the 

 animal organism are highly desirable, but at the same time they 

 are most laborious and costly. They require to be undertaken 

 on a tolerably large scale, and cannot well be executed by a prac- 

 tical farmer, for want of scientific appliances, nor even by an 

 agricultural chemist, who cannot specially provide all the expen- 

 sive arrangements and command all the assistance necessary to 

 render chemico-physiological experiments applied to agriculture 

 thoroughly satisfactory. A further difficulty arises from the fact 



