The Proper Office of Straw on a Farm. 
171 
oat-flif2^1it, but the husk or refuse of fine oatmeal) ; and, thirdly, 
hean-straw. 
Sjieaking from conjectuic, I should assign the lowest place to 
the first-named and the highest to the last-named ingredient, with 
an inclination, perhaps, to attribute the most benefit to that 
element which has been tested and tried the least, in accounting 
for an unusually successful result. 
There is much that calls for further investigation in these ex- 
periments ; but we may congratulate Mr. Horsfall on his success, 
and try to emulate it, with the assurance that the comparison of 
attempts, whether successful or the reverse, will ultimately dis- 
close the point on which success hinges, if, as we can hardly 
doubt, that result be attainable. 
The importance of the subject of the economical production 
of beef cannot be doubted at the present moment, when the 
system of fattening stock at a loss, with a view to being remune- 
rated by an increased produce of grain, seems to be drawing to 
an end, whilst the demand for meat is on the increase. 
The more a man feels assured that statements of direct profit 
by stall-feeding bullocks will not bear inspection, or, at the 
best, only apply to exceptional cases, the more anxious he must 
be that more economical methods of producing beef should be 
recognised, than those which have hitherto prevailed. 
If we would see how, in theory, a high value may be assigned 
to straw, we need only take the hypothesis that it contains 30 
or, as a maximum, 40 per cent, of gum, starch, sugar, &c., 
and that these substances are worth \d. per lb. 
One ton of straw would then contain -^^q of 2240 lbs. of starch, 
6;c., which at \d. per lb. would give us the following value : 
l^-jOj X 2240rf. = 3 X 22id. = = 56s. per ton ; or, in the 
case of 40 per cent, of gum, starch, &c., x 2240cZ. = 4 x 224t/. 
= = 75s. nearly per ton. 
If we are at all prepared for such results, we shall not demur 
to the phosphates in straw being valued quite as highly as when 
they are found in any other form. 
We shall not dwell upon the improbability of any practical 
farmer buying potash at the price at which it is sold as an article 
of commerce. 
We shall hardly pause to inquire why scientific writers are not 
now content with valuing nitrogen at 6c?. per lb., the price it 
bore in the most palmy days of the nitrogen theory. 
On the other hand, if carbonaceous matter be so valuable to 
the animal, we may rather demur to its utter depreciation in the 
shape of manure, as food for the plant ; for the narrow-leaved 
gi'asses at nearly all the stages of their growth, and for the broader- 
leaved tribe at the time of their early development. — P. H. F. 
