160 
The Proper Office of Straio on a Farm. 
sent time eatin;; 1 (S 11)5. each daily of straw cliafT prepared by tliis 
jnetliod ; and 1 have found no difficulty in inducing them to cat 
I'ape-cake, which otherwise they would not touch, by grinding 
it small and mixing it into the heap of pulped roots and chaff". 
With regard to tlie value of different sorts of straw, any kind 
saved in good condition is better than any other kind at all 
damaged. If at all injured, it should be condemned for litter ; 
none but the best should be given to stock. The nearer it 
approaches to ripeness when cut, the less wholesome and 
nutritious it is. 
Cattle prefer oat-straw, or barley-straw with clover in it, and 
both are excellent fodder. Pea haulm is eagerly eaten by sheep, 
and is very serviceable in the racks of horses and store-cattle in 
the winter months. On sheep-farms every handful should be 
saved for the ewes and store flock. 
Bean haulm is frequently exposed too long in the field, but if 
carted in good condition, it should be carefully saved and cut 
into chaff". For although cattle and horses %vill eat it from racks 
during the winter months, they will waste a portion. On dairy- 
farms bean-straw is especially useful for the cows, and may be 
made palatalile by fermenting with pulped roots. 
It is an interesting fact that well-fed cattle, kept in open 
yards, will eat more straw during the winter months than other 
cattle kept under the warm shelter of a roof. The careful 
inanager saves his stock of bean-straw until the cold weather 
.sets in, knowing that at th;)t season its bitter flavour will be dis- 
regarded. 
During the present winter I compared the quantity of mixed 
hay and straw-chaff" eaten by six oxen, fattened in a warm 
cattle-house, with that consumed by cattle of the same age and 
lireed in an adjoining yard. Each lot was fed alike in respect 
of corn and roots, and as much chaff" was given as they would 
eat. Those in the house ate 14 lbs., and the others 18 lbs. daily; 
showing a difference of nearly a fourth less carbonaceous food, 
rec|uired by cattle when kept in a condition of artificial warmth. 
This fact indicates the value of straw for maintaining animal 
warmth. It would require a long course of experiments to 
ascertain its value as compared with hay and other articles of 
food. The results of experiments of this kind are frequentlv 
unlike. They are aff'ected by the age and breed of the animal, 
by the kind of food used in connexion with the straw, by tem- 
perature and other circumstances. When animals are much 
exposed to cold it may be right to give them a considerable 
quantity of straw, and but little hay, in their food ; but it does 
not follow that it would l)e right to give the sam.e quantity and 
proportions, on removing the cattle to a warm house. We have 
