On Box'fecdinj ivitli Linseed Compounds. 483 



April last my farm horses were fed with wheat-straw, cut into fine 

 chaff, and immersed in boiling linseed-meal and water till all was 

 absorbed ; with this they worked ten hours a-day, and looked 

 better than when fed on hay and corn." And one of his corre- 

 spondents states : — " I am now feeding 14 horses and colts with 

 straw and hay compound. My plan is, to 8 bushels of cut hay 

 and 8 bushels of wheat-chaff are added 281bs. of crushed linseed, 

 boiled in 18 pails of water; I give the horses this quantity at 

 night in the yard. In addition they have 1 pint of pea-meal per 

 day, and 1 cwt. of straw per week ; the boiling linseed is poured 

 upon the chaff, and both are thoroughly mixed together. I 

 intend giving my young stock IJlb. of linseed-meal with a 

 bushel of chaff daily ; my cows the same. 



For sheep, a compound is recommended consisting of linseed- 

 meal and barley, the latter pressed flat by a crushing-machine. 

 The linseed mucilage is to be prepared as before directed : a 

 pound of the meal for every gallon of water; then add 3 lbs. of 

 the crushed barley for every pound of the linseed ; the barley 

 will shortly absorb the whole of the mucilage, and the grains will 

 swell out to nearly their original size and shape. It may then 

 be given to the sheep, which will eat it with avidity, and thrive 

 upon it, as indeed they will upon any of the grass or chaff com- 

 pounds.* 



Every farmer ought to be careful of his straw, and should 

 economize its use in winter, when so much is usually wasted in the 

 fold-yards. It will be wanted either as bedding for his cattle, 

 or, if other provender run shorty for cutting into chaff to mix with 

 hay and other materials in forming compounds in spring. The 

 straw-shed will greatly help to preserve the straw, by keeping 

 it dry; and if there be more straw than the shed will contain, it 

 should be stacked and thatched, and be thus preserved until it is 

 wanted for use. 



Grass is more abundant in some seasons than in others, and 

 the farmer may in some measure guard against a failure in the 

 grass-crop, by having a piece of lucerne, more or less, according 

 to the size of his farm, to fall back upon in case of need. Lu- 

 cerne thrives best on a dry deep soil, and if it be kept clean and 

 well manured, it will give four good crops in the year. It is 

 perennial, and will last many years, if properly managed ; and is 

 likewise of hardy growth, and well calculated for the small farmer. 

 Cattle are fond of it, and it answers as well for compounds as 

 either grass or clover. * 



There is nothing intricate in the foregoing directions. Nothing 



* See Mr. Warnes's work on Flax, and the use of the Seed, p. 122. 



