Suggestions for Stock-feeding in the Winter of 1893-91. 459 
clays run together. Even these brick-like lumps may be turned 
to account in road-mending and in other ways. The burniug 
of a headland may be continuous, leaving a heap the size and 
shape of a mangel clamp, which should be lightly thatched from 
day to day when sufficiently cool. Useful bedding is available 
on some farms from patches of low-lying moorland, and where 
sandpits are handy, or spent bark or other waste is available, they 
will probably be turned to account. Sparred floors are success- 
fully used, and if the brick floors of pigsties, &c., be cheaply 
lined over with old sleepers or boards, it will save half the 
otherwise necessary bedding. 
Having thus proposed to conserve the straw by the use of a 
substitute, the manufacture of which may probably be worked 
in the ordinary farm labour account, it will be necessary to con- 
sider the most economical and profitable method of utilising the 
straw, both in the replacement of hay and as the accompaniment 
of more concentrated foods. The necessity of a proper distension 
of the stomach in the case of cattle and sheep is an elementary 
fact known from experience to every practical man. A case 
occurred within the writer’s recollection, some years ago, in 
which a London trader (having constituted himself a “ farmer ”) 
was prosecuted, convicted, and fined for cruelty to his cattle 
(although it was in evidence that a good stock of cake and corn 
was warehoused on the farm, and that the cattle had plenty of 
it), simply because, in spite of neighbourly advice, he ignored 
the fact that a coefficient was required in the shape of bulk. 
This department has been well handled by able writers in 
these pages, and in different publications, for many years, so that 
it is unnecessary in these days to occupy space with any attempt 
to prove the value of straw as food. Many feeders, having 
foreseen the necessity for its increased use long before harvest, 
will have cut such crops as are better suited to supply it at the 
earliest possible moment, thereby ensuring the largest propor- 
tion of nutritive properties in the straw. Being thus prepared, 
experience indicates that it is best to reduce the straw to chaff 
as soon after harvest as possible, in order that it may be properly 
ripened for use. The cheapest method, and one which has 
practically superseded all others, is to cut all up at one operation 
by attaching the cutter to the threshing machine, and mixing 
the corn and straw chaff together. Our practice for many years 
has been to cut up the largest possible quantity of all kinds of 
straw, and store it in a convenient position in the homestead, 
and, if possible, in the “bay” of a large old-fashioned barn, 
capable of holding from one to six days’ work, according to 
requirements. The chief point to be aimed at is consolidation, 
