218 Wisconsin state agrioultuiial society. 
Well, I have scolded you long enough, and will now try to tell 
you my experience and observation in the utilization of straw and 
fodder to make feed for stock, and how to convert the refuse into 
manure. 
First, then, it is important for the good of the grain that it should 
be cut early, before it is dead ripe, and immediately before it gets 
bleached or dried in the sun, have it put up in rough shocks and 
capped. Yes, capped every time. Grain that is set up and cap¬ 
ped will be worth at least five per cent, more than that set up in 
long shocks, and then the straw is bright and 
GOOD FOOD FOR STOCK. 
And here is another idea — did you know that straw thus saved is 
worth very much more for manure than bleached or thoroughly ripe 
straw? Here again is another idea — anything that will not make 
good food for cattle or stock, will not make good manure. 
Did you ever think that the straw you get soaked in water some¬ 
times, and draw out on your land, and call it manure, is not worth 
the trouble or expense of drawing? It is simply because you have 
allowed all the ammoniacal substance to wash or dry out and evap¬ 
orate, even before the grain was stacked, or such straw cut. It may 
indeed act as an absorbent of other manures that may be mixed with 
it, but in and of itself, it is of very little value for feed or manure. 
It is a convenience to have it for bedding for stock, and may thus 
become an absorbant then of manure, but of itself simply, I believe 
it is of very little value. On the other hand, if the grain had been 
cut when it was in the dough state and put up and capped, and al¬ 
lowed to dry out under the caps, it would not only have caused the 
grain to fill better, but the straw would have retained its nitrogen- 
ious quality, and would have made good food for cattle in some 
measure, and still have been rich in that quality that is so essential 
to make good manure. 
I was going to tell about the starving process of keeping cattle, 
as commonly practiced. As we said, the stock in the fall are in 
good condition, and are starved and frozen through the winter, un¬ 
til they will lose from one hundred to two hundred pounds of flesh, 
and come out in the spring with just barely life in them, taking 
fully three months to thaw out, and recuperate lost vigor. Now, 
farmers, this is waste. The economy of this waste is to save all 
you have, and add more to it. 
