STRAW. 
steamed or boiled or otherwise cooked condition 
is greatly better than the same mixture in a raw 
condition. 
A correct estimate of the relative nutritious 
values of the different species of straw and haulm, 
viewed intrinsically or without reference to the 
diversities in each arising from soil and culture 
and condition, could be formed only by striking 
the average of careful chemical analyses of speci- 
mens of each species, of the different qualities of 
it in use; and as this is unattainable and even 
unapproachable in the present state of our know- 
ledge, an estimate by Veit, one of the ablest 
Continental agriculturalists, founded on exten- 
sive practical induction, may be substituted. 
“The straw of the common leguminous crops,” 
says he, “especially of lentils, vetches, and pease, 
is more nutritious than the straw of seed clover. 
The greener the tips are, the less it is lodged, 
the better can it be dried and brought in, the 
more nourishing it is. The straw of lentils and 
seed-clover is the most preferable. The fine 
stalk vetch straw is also very nutritious; behind 
which stands somewhat the pea-straw, with its 
thicker stalk. All straw of leguminous fruit is 
particularly a welcome fodder to sheep, on which 
account therefore it is greatly prized by many 
sheep-owners, and considered equal to hay.—Oat 
and barley straw, is the straw for fodder of the 
cereal crops. Oat straw is most agreeable, and 
also most nutritious, on account of its peculiar 
taste for all species of cattle, because on the tips of 
the panicles are usually found unripe grains, and 
oats are generally cut before they are fully ripe. 
Barley straw has, on account of its moisture and 
short period of vegetation, a high value as fodder, 
and, other things being equal, is as nutritious as 
oat straw, if it were not, as is the case, fully ripe 
before reaping. Yet it is more liable to injure 
than oat straw, because after reaping it imbibes 
more moisture from the air and soil.—Straw of 
summer wheat, summer speltz, and summer rye, 
for fodder, stands after oat and barley straw; 
but in many farms, where the straw of the usual 
species of winter grains supplies the need of 
litter, it is employed for especially the moister 
straw of summer wheat, and summer speltz. 
That of summer rye is less nutritious.—The stalk 
of maize contains much saccharine matter, and 
therefore is very nutritious used fine, and agree- 
able to all kinds of cattle. The cobs, after the 
corn has been taken off, ground up, are likewise 
a very nutritious fodder, and the hard stalks 
may be chopped up for the purpose. Taking all 
these things into view, it stands next to the 
straw of summer rye in value as fodder.— Millet 
straw has a hard stalk, but contains at least as 
much nutritious matter as the straw of the win-: 
ter cereals, at the same time that millet is cut 
before it is fully ripe. Buckwheat, on account 
of its quantity on a field of less fertility, and if 
of fine stalk, in which case its value as fodder 
from its straw being rich with leaves, is enhanced, 
dol 
is as good as the straw of the winter grain. The 
straw of the usual winter grain crops, as of barley, 
wheat, speltz and rye, has less value as fodder, 
and is therefore employed more for litter. Rye 
straw is the least valuable for fodder of the straw 
of all the cereals. Bean straw, in case its leaves 
have not fallen off or are decayed, and the ends 
of the stalk are green when it is cut, as many 
experiments have shown, has a much higher 
value as fodder than is usually supposed. If the 
very hard stalks are chopped fine, and scalded 
with juicy fodder mixed with it, the nutritious 
quality of it is little inferior to that of the straw 
of other leguminous plants.” 
The substances suitable to be mixed with cut 
and cooked straw as food for working animals 
and for milch cows, are various, and have already 
been partially discussed in the articles Horsz, 
Cow, and Foop or Anrmats. Some of the most 
nutritious are crushed oil-cake and the several 
preparations and mixtures of linseed, cole-seed, 
and oatmeal. “An American farmer obtained 
an excellent fattening substance for his oxen, 
by mixing with a decoction of lint-flower, straw 
heated in boiling water, colza-powder, and oat- 
meal, the whole seasoned with a little salt; 
for the same purpose a jelly has been employed 
in England, made of linseed, boiled for two 
hours, after being left to macerate in water 
during twenty-four hours. It is mixed with 
straw or wheat chaff. Several experiments of 
this kind, repeated in America, have afforded 
successful results in the fattening of cattle. Lin- 
seed has been boiled in a quantity of water suffi- 
cient to form a jelly of moderate consistence ; 
the boiling should be continued for an hour and 
a half, and it is necessary to stir the mass fre- 
quently, that the seed be not burnt. To two 
measures of linseed there are added three of 
bruised barley; and when the whole is well 
boiled, it is mixed with four measures of chopped 
straw, and given warm to the animals which are 
to be fattened. Should they refuse this food, 
from not being accustomed to it, they are readily 
habituated to it, by mixing a little molasses with 
it, and by giving them but a very small quantity 
at first. Cattle may also be fattened by mixing 
straw while still moist and warm, with meal or 
flour, such as of barley, wheat, pease, oats, maize, 
&c., or with bruised seeds. It is proved that 
seed given entire produces the loss of a tenth 
part in nutrition, a tenth part being voided by 
the animals without undergoing any change. 
The seeds are bruised by passing them between 
two cylinders. If moistened and brought to 
germination, they are more nourishing. When 
the seeds cannot be bruised, they are rendered 
more digestible by being steeped in water for 
half a day. Bread crumbled and mixed with 
straw, affords a still more nutritious aliment 
than seed or meal, and it would probably be ad- 
vantageous to give it in preference. Bran con- 
tains little alimentary substance, but it may be 
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