1910.] Rye Straw for Harness Making. 



131 





1909. 



1 90S. 



1907. 



1906. 



-Lincolns 



••• 1,332 



1,765 



3..55 1 



6,555 



Rambouillet 





14 



98 



4 1 



Shropshire... 



92 



59 



244 



'99 



Hampshire... 



87 



60 



1 14 



412 



Various 



367 



325 



305 



495 





1,910 



2,223 



4,3 12 



7,802 



■Racers 



279 



197 



219 



302 



Clydesdale 



35 



76 



146 



210 



Hackney ... 



47 



62 



40 



100 



Yorkshire... 



3 



11 



7 



9 



Various ... 



204 



419 



3S2 



521 





568 



765 



794 



1, 142 





82 



542 



941 



313 



The Board are informed that some difficulty is experienced 

 from time to time in obtaining home-grown rye straw suit- 

 able for harness-making, thatching, 

 Rye Straw for an d mat-making, with the result that 



Harness Making*. considerable quantities of rye straw are 

 imported from the Continent. 



The straw for these purposes needs to be specially prepared 

 by combing, and for collar-making it must be of a suitable 

 length, according to the size of the collar required. Rye 

 straw for the latter purpose is principally imported from the 

 North of France, though some is imported from Belgium 

 and Holland. It is hand-thrashed and combed, and made 

 up in 2-cwt. bales. This rye straw is stouter and tougher 

 than the English straw, but its most important characteristic 

 as compared with home-grown straw is its length, which is 

 5 feet and upwards. For the largest collars it is essential that 

 foreign rye straw be employed, as English-grown straw is 

 not long enough. A firm of straw dealers informed the 

 Board that for these reasons they never obtained any rye 

 straw for collar-making in Great Britain. In another case, 

 however, specially grown English straw was found satis- 

 factory. 



One firm, who use about 150 tons of home-grown rye straw 

 per annum, state that they find it increasingly difficult to 

 obtain straw suitable for their purposes. They consider that 

 the practice of manuring the rye, though increasing the 

 grain crop, has led to deterioration of the straw. 



It would seem from the information the Board have been 



