The Proper Office of Straw on a Farm. 
167 
tons of straw may be economically used durin<^ the winter, for 
shccj) ioodinjj:, on a lann of 400 acres of arable land, where a 
breeding llock is kept. 
Thus we shall require for the fodder of 50 head of large stock, 
whether horses or beasts, at least 50 tons. 
For sheep 8 „ 
For storing roots, when wheat is reaped, waste from 
thatching, making foundation of stacks, »Scc., say 5 „ 
Total 63 tons of 
straw ; or fully the excess over 200 tons which 200 acres of 
averaqe corn can be expected to produce. 
This note, like the statements which piompted it, is intended 
to be suggestive rather than conclusive ; for throughout we are 
only opening, not deciding, the important question of the proper 
use of straw on a farm — a fitting subject for deliberate discussion 
in some future numbers of the Journal. 
The article before us does not profess to dispose of the 
scientific question of the value of straw for fodder by calculations 
based on chemical analysis ; neither can it appeal to well- 
conducted experiments, instituted for the purpose of determin- 
ing the relative values of (say) hay and straw, whether bean or 
white straw, in combination with cake and roots. These remain 
among the desiderata of agriculture. 
The scientific debate seems to lie chiefly within the following 
limits : — 
No very broad or permanent distinction appears to exist be- 
tween wheat, barley, and oat straw ; that variety which is most 
congenial to the climate and soil of each district seems to be 
most palatable and most nutritious for the use of stock in that 
district. The amount of water in well-harvested straw seems 
to vary from 10 to about 14 per cent. ;* the mineral ash from 
about 5 to 7 per cent. The two together may be taken to con- 
tain nearly 20 per cent., or one-fifth of the whole substance. 
Of the remainder some state less than 2 per cent., others more 
than 3 per cent., to consist of albumen, or, as others write, 
albuminous matter. Two and a half per cent, may be taken as 
a mean estimate.! There is besides a small quantity of oil, 
variously stated at from 1 to f of a lb. per cent. 
Some readers will recollect that recently Professor Nesbitt 
stated at the Farmer's Club, that 2 per cent., or even 1 per cent., 
* If an exceptional analysis gives from 25 to 30 per cent, of water, this may 
perhaps be accounted for by early cutting or want of the usual stacking. 
t Stephens, when estimating the straw crop of an imperial acre of wheat at 
3000 lbs., speaks of 40 lbs. (l-oS) per cent, of gluten, a low estimate ; whilst he 
assigns to " oil or fat " 100 lbs. (or 25 per cent.), a high estimate. 
