STRAW. 
were eaten; and the number of the best farmers 
in Norfolk maintain, that all straw should be 
used as litter, and trodden into dung, by ani- 
mals feeding on much better food, as turnips, 
hay, or oil-cake. The principle is a good one; 
but it can never be generally carried into effect. 
All farms, as now cultivated, do not produce 
turnips, which is the best article to use for rot- 
ting straw, from the immense quantity of urine 
it produces; though there are many, in which 
that crop is now unknown, where a greater or 
lesser quantity of that valuable root might be 
raised. In regard to hay, or oil-cake, these arti- 
cles are too expensive, and often too scarce, to 
make the use of them general; and, besides, 
such dry food furnishes little moisture to the 
dunghill, without which it cannot be so effec- 
tually converted into manure.” 
The proportion of straw produced on an acre 
or field or entire farm has been estimated roughly 
and averagely at twice the weight of the grain, 
—and more proximately as 100 lbs. of straw to 
47 lbs. of grain in the case of winter wheat, 100 
to 40 in the case of winter rye, 100 to 55 in the 
case of summer wheat, 100 to 45 in the case of 
summer rye, 100 to 63 in the case of oats, 100 
to 66 in the case of barley, 100 to 43 in the case 
of pease, 100 to 48 in the case of vetches, and 
100 to 42 in the case of beans; but it widely 
differs both in different varieties of one species 
in the same circumstances of soil and culture 
and season, and in the same variety of a species 
in different circumstances of soil and culture and 
season. In some leases, the straw of all the years 
of the tenure, and of all the crops raised, is re- 
quired to be consumed wholly on the farm; and 
in others, it is allowed to be sold either accord- 
ing to the farmer’s pleasure, or on condition of its 
being replaced on the farm by a compensating 
amount of some other fertilizer. In some, the 
straw of the last year’s crops is reserved for the 
use of the landlord or of the incoming tenant 
without any remuneration; in others, it is re- 
served for the use of the landlord or of the in- 
coming tenant upon a valuation according to 
the custom of the estate or of the county; and 
in others, it is allowed to be sold by auction or 
otherwise and removed to any place the pur- 
chaser pleases. When straw lies in a quadran- 
gular compressed heap or rick, it may be sold by 
measure in the same manner as hay, 18 or 20 
yards being reckoned for a ton according to the 
degree of the compression or comparative den- 
sity; and when it lies in bundles, the weight of 
a small number of medium size may be ascer- 
tained by weighing them, and assumed as a 
datum for reckoning the weight of any great. 
number or of the whole. Good straw suitable 
for the purposes of both fodder and litter has 
commonly ranged in market value between 20s. 
and 30s. per ton; wheat straw tied up is usually 
reckoned worth 10s. per ton more than wheat 
aes in a loose state; and the straw of barley 
STRAW BERRY. 3998 
and oats, when sweet and suitable for fodder, is 
commonly rated a few shillings per ton higher 
than loose wheat straw. 
Straw, of various qualities and in various 
states, is used for mixing with argillaceous earth 
to make the walls and roofs of poor country 
houses,—for twisting into ropes to form drains 
and to serve other purposes,—for mixing with 
sea-weed to make a fertilizing compost, — for 
burning to yield potash from its ashes,—for bot- 
toming chairs,—for stuffing horses’ collars,—for 
manufacturing into paper,—for making straw 
mattresses,—for packing glass, china, and earth- 
enware,—for manufacturing straw-hats, straw- 
bonnets, and several kinds of straw ornaments 
and trinkets,—and for a number of other pur- 
poses ranging from very coarse to very fine. 
STRAWBERRY, —botanically Fragaria. A 
genus of hardy, evergreen, stoloniferous, fruit- 
ing herbs, of the rosaceous order. ‘Two species 
grow wild in Britain; eleven have been intro- 
duced from other countries; and many perma- - 
nent varieties, some natural and others the re- 
sult of culture, occur in collections or in gardens. 
The appearance of allis similar ; and that of the 
most common is so universally known as not to 
require any description. Three species are re- 
spectively red-flowered, yellow-flowered, and 
apetalous ; and all the others are white-flowered. 
Most naturally bloom in April and May; but 
two or three naturally bloom at other periods ; 
and varieties can be selected to yield a succes- 
sion of fruit in the open air during seven or 
eight months of the year,—and to yield it with 
the aid of the forcing-house during the remain- 
ing four months. Most love a soil of rich loam ; 
and all may be propagated from runners. Straw- 
berry plants are favourites of most persons, and 
deserve to be high favourites of all,—their sto- 
loniferous habit is so curious, their evergreen, 
low-spreading foliage so beautiful and refreshing 
to the eye, their elegant and charmingly scented 
blossoms so grateful to the sense of smell, and 
their handsome and brilliant fruit so salubrious 
and luscious and delightful to the palate. The 
popular name strawberry alludes to the ancient 
practice of placing layers of straw among the 
plants to prevent the fruit from being dashed by 
rain and polluted with the soil; and the botani- 
cal name fragaria alludes to the delicious fra- 
grance of the fruit. But the fragrance, notwith- 
standing its great power and richness, soon dis- 
sipates after the fruit are gathered, and is so 
attenuated or decomposable as to escape every 
effort to catch and concentrate it by distillation ; 
and the fruit, though popularly called berries, 
and though similar in appearance to some true 
berries, particularly to those of the bramble 
genus, are really not berries at all, but large, 
fleshy receptacles, having the seeds upon the ex- 
terior. 
The common wood strawberry, Pragaria vesca, 
grows wild in the woods of Britain, and has long 
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