STEAW AND CHAFF. 39 



to be manured in order to keep up the quality, as well 

 as the quantity of the grass produced. Poor and im- 

 poverished land produces but very inferior fodder. On 

 the other hand, as pointed out by Mr. H. S. Thompson 

 (Journal of the Eoyal Agricultural Society, 1872), if 

 land be treated with an excess of manure rich in 

 nitrogenous matters, as guano and nitrate of soda, 

 the luxuriant grass thus produced will be of inferior 

 quality, and will prove unwholesome. The same 

 remark applies to carrots and other roots. 



Straw and Chaff. When horses are fed in the 

 ordinary way, on corn and hay, or on corn and grass, 

 there is no objection to allowing them to eat wheat or 

 oat straw, which, if they be that way inclined, they will 

 generally select from their bedding. Wheat and oat 

 straw are more easily digested than barley straw ; all 

 three kinds being better than rice straw. I have 

 noticed that in England, some horses will not thrive 

 unless they are allowed to eat a portion of their straw 

 bedding. This is, probably, owing to the fact that, 

 for the digestion of the highly-nutritious food upon 

 which they are fed, they require an additional amount 

 of bulk, which the straw supplies. In India, sufficient 

 bulk will generally be obtained from the grass which 

 the animal consumes. Although " long straw " may 

 be a useful adjunct to grass or hay, as a food, I do not 

 think it advisable to give it alone and in large quanti- 

 ties, with the corn ; for it will then be liable to produce 

 obstinate constipation. Its consumption, to the exclu- 

 sion of hay or grass, is supposed to be a fruitful cause 

 of roaring among Scotch cart-horses. The breaking up 

 or cutting up of straw into small pieces seems to 



