DISQUALIFIED PIGS AT THE BIRMINGHAM SHOW. 109 
animals are assimilated, whilst a large proportion of the 
nitrogenous or flesh-forming substances pass through the 
animal body unaltered. This fact—for so we believe we may 
term it—is of importance to farmers who use their straw 
chiefly as food for cattle. The straw is deficient in flesh¬ 
forming matters, and abounds in fat-forming elements. In 
the oil-cake there is an excess of the flesh-forming, as com¬ 
pared with the fat-forming substances. It is clear, then, 
that by a mixture of the two articles the happy mean'^ 
would be attained. 
Many of the best feeders in England employ large quan¬ 
tities of straw as food. It is stated that some of. them adopt 
a peculiar and secret mode of preparing the substance, 
whereby its value is greatly enhanced. If we might ven¬ 
ture an opinion on the subject, we should say that the 
^ secret’"’ consists in using only good straw, chopping it 
finely, and adding it in proper proportion to the other 
articles of the animal’s diet. 
As straw includes a considerable proportion of woody 
fibre, which is hardly, if at all, digestible, its mechanical pre¬ 
paration is a point of great importance. By chopping finely 
or thoroughly bruising the article, its fibrous structure is 
disintegrated in a degree proportionate to the amount of vio¬ 
lence to which it is subjected. The nutritious particles are 
for the most part enveloped by the fibre, which to a great 
extent proteets them from the action of the juices of the 
stomach. By breaking up the fibre* the gastric juice is 
allowed to come in contact with the digestible portions of 
the straw; and, consequently, a larger amount of these sub¬ 
stances is assimilated. Straw is one of those substances 
which may be cooked or fermented with advantage, as by 
either of these processes the fibrous matter is softened and 
broken up to such an extent as no longer to protect the 
albuminous, oily, gummy, and the other useful matters from 
the action of the solvents in the stomach.—C. A. C. in the 
Weekly Agricultural Review. 
THE DISQUALIEIED PIGS AT THE BIRMINGHAM SHOW. 
The following correspondence has appeared in the agri¬ 
cultural papers relative to the disqualification of a pen of 
pigs, the property of the Hon. Colonel Pennant, M.P., at 
the late meeting of the Birmingham Cattle Club. 
