Composition and Nutritive Value of Straw. 17 



Barley-Straw (not too ripe) taken from Farm Buildings, 

 October 31. 



General Composition. 



Water .. .. , .. .. 17-50 



Substances soluble 'in water 12-40 



Substances insoluble in water 7O10 



100-00 

 Detailed Composition. 



Water .. .. :. 17'50 



Oil 1-17 



* Albuminous compounds 5*37 



Mucilage, sugar, extractive matters, and cellular fibre . . . . 71*44 



Mineral matters 4*52 



100-00 



*Containing nitrogen . . . . 86 



In this analysis it will be seen no less than 12 J per cent, of 

 matters soluble in water, and containing a good deal of sugar, 

 were obtained, thus showing plainly to what extent the solubility, 

 and with it no doubt the digestibility, of different samples may 

 vary. 



Let it be remembered that the analyses were not made with 

 picked samples, but with samples such as I found them in the rick- 

 yard on our farm. The inferior and over-ripe sample was grown 

 in 1860, the other in 1861. Now any farmer who, with a view 

 to testing practically the nutritive quality of barley-straw, 

 tried feeding experiments in 1860, would have found that it 

 was very poor stuff, hardly fit for food ; whilst in 1861 the 

 same kind of straw would have given most satisfactory results. 

 Thus it happens that the same kind of straw is denounced by 

 one man as only fit for the dungheap, and by another elevated 

 to almost equal rank with hay. 



In my opinion barley-straw, not too ripe, is nearly equal to 

 oat-straw reaped in the same state of maturity, and superior to 

 wheat. It is usually richer in albuminous compounds than wheat- 

 straw, although the larger proportion of albuminous matters 

 found in barley-straw is in part due to some clover and grass 

 which gets mixed up with the barley-crop. . Barley-straw then 

 should not be wasted as litter, but given to cattle, especially 

 young stock, both on account of its softer texture and its larger 

 proportion of nitrogenised matter, with which young growing 

 stock require to be more liberally supplied than fatting beasts. 



OAT-STRAW. 



A specimen of oat-straw, grown in 1860, was submitted to 

 a complete analysis, and furnished the following results : 



