Utilisation of Straw as Food for Stock. 689 
A layer of chaff was placed in the trough, and the scalding linseed soup 
thrown over it. It was then turned over, and on it placed meal which was 
allowed in the proportion of 31b. per head per day. I can only say the plan 
answered all my expectations, and my cattle never did so well as when 
treated in this way.” 
If sugar or treacle can be purchased cheaper than linseed 
and maize or other grain it can be more easily employed, as it 
only requires to be infused in boiling water and the liquid thrown 
over the chaff, and the cost of grinding the corn would of course 
be saved even if home-grown corn were used ; but since market 
prices have been so low it has been deemed desirable to consume 
as much as possible of the home produce instead of going to the 
market to buy. This is the reason, no doubt, the employment 
of sugars and treacle as food for stock has somewhat gone out 
of fashion, although these articles have in recent years been 
exceedingly cheap. The utility of having a soup of some kind 
when straw chaff is used must be very evident, the absorption 
which takes place causing the whole of the food to be devoured, 
whereas if oilcake or corn were intermixed with the chaff the 
animals would pick it out and not consume the whole of the less 
palatable food. 
There is yet another way of making straw chaff palatable, 
that of impregnating it with condiments or spices. Very 
grateful aromas may be imparted in this way to tempt the 
olfactory nerves of cattle and sheep, so that when concocted 
foods of this kind are intermixed with straw chaff to which the 
particles adhere the animals are led to devour every bit of it, 
and it is well knowm to be possible to have condimented foods 
of this character that are perfectly salutary to health, and from 
their tonic properties may assist instead of retarding digestion 
and assimilation. Malt is said to act as a condiment quite as 
much as a food for stock, and many old, experienced farmers are 
so fond of using it that we may well fancy it answers even 
higher purposes than mere nutrition. On this subject Mr. John 
Ford, of Rushton, Dorset, wrote as follows on Sept. 3, 1881 : — 
Malt is 110 doubt a very valuable article to stock-feeders on arable 
farms, who have plenty of straw to spare, and who require the sweetened 
substance to induce cattle to consume a larger quantity of straw chaff than 
they otherwise would do if not made palatable. Since the duty was taken 
off I have used from 20 to 30 qrs. of malt, and have been well satistied 
with the result. My plan has been to mix the straw chaff the day before 
using it with a combination of linseed, cotton-cake, corn, and malt, together 
with pulped roots, just sufficient to moisten the chaff slightly and cause it to 
heat a little.* 
Writing to me a year later, on October 19, 1882, Mr. Ford 
said : — 
