7 
BULLETIN OF THE BUSSEY INSTITUTION. 55 
CoMPOSITION OF THE Dry MATTER IN StTRAWs.* 
Kind of Straw. 
The proportion of dry 
in the ordinary air- 
matter (including ash) 
dried material is: 
Albuminoids 
Carbohydrates, 
including Fat. 
Cellulose. 
a 
° 
o 
fe 
o 
g 
° 
a 
o 
o 
2 
= 
n 
< 
TI Oe 
Amtocgo 
Soe coal a OP | 
Buckwheat (mean of ee a 
givenabove) .. . g ¢ 1.74. | 61.19 5.63 
Buckwheat Sneek mown green for 
fodder* .. 4 isa bombed 14.49 | 45.86 4.66 | 30.89 8.76 
It would seem, from the analyses, that buckwheat straw, when mixed 
in small proportion with richer kinds of foods, might, like other straws, 
be usefully employed for feeding animals in many cases; especially if it 
were previously softened by steaming or soaking. A certain prejudice 
against the use of this straw as fodder, which undoubtedly prevails in 
many localities, evidently depends upon a tradition that has come down 
to us from much earlier times, to the effect that the buckwheat plant is 
liable to do positive harm to animals that feed upon it. Linneus,f in 
the report of one of his botanical journeys, mentions the belief of the 
Swedish peasantry that when sheep eat buckwheat straw they are made 
sick by it. Cows, they said, ate the straw with impunity, but horses 
would not eat.it. Several of the earlier German writers on agriculture 
mention the belief that prevailed in their country that the buckwheat 
plant is dangerous food for animals. These views, though often cited 
now-a-days, have repeatedly been combated, and to all appearance have 
been refuted for the most part. The distinguished south-German agri- 
culturalist Schwerz,t for example, did not share the fears of his predeces- 
sors and contemporaries, and was at pains long ago to adduce evidence 
that mown buckwheat is excellent food for all kinds of grass-eating 
animals. Nor do the old statements consist with the views of various 
modern writers, who recommend green-cut buckwheat with very little 
* Copied with some slight alterations from Dietrich & Keenig’s ‘“‘ Zusammen- 
setzung der Futterstoffe,” Berlin, 1874, pp. 76, 77. 
t “Natur- Kunst- und Giconomie Historie von einigen schwedischen Provin- 
zien,” Leipzig, 1756, p. 105. 
¢ “Culture des plantes Fourragéres,” Paris, 1842, p. 188. 
