mile.* In covered yards the dung is concentrated; it is never washed; and cartage that costsy item-is reduced to a minimum. The quantity of straw required to keep open yards in a comfortable state, depends of course on the weather; and also on the kinds of food given to the stock. Turnips and green food increase the secretion of urine, and litter is needed in proportion. In ordinary years, and in open yards, with sheds, 50 head of stock require, as litter, 300 tons of straw in nine months, from September 1st to June 1st. This reckoning supposes ten horses to be kept in the stable, whose litter is thrown daily into the yards; the rest being cows and fattening cattle. The amount of straw used daily per head is 48 lbs., or twice as much as is required under shelter. It is stated in an excellent paper on manure, in "Morton's Cyclopedia," that 20 lbs. of straw per day are required to litter an ox, in a box containing 100 square feet. This agrees with the quantity used in my own boxes, in each of which I find, after six months' fatting, 8 tons of dung, 6 tons 8 cwt. of which are derived from the ox, and 1 ton 12 cwt from the litter † About 24 lbs. per head are used in the covered yards, which are occasionally treated to a dose from the stabe tank. Fifty head of beast, fattened in covered yards, will produce in six months 5 horses and 4 carts (a tracc-horse being employed to drag the load on to s. d. 3 8 12 6 1 8 3 2 20 0 -H. E. † Mr. Lawes informs me that he takes from his horse-boxes, of the same size, 6 tons in 6 months. The one statement corroborates the other, or rather Mr. Lawes shows quite as snall a decrease as I should have anticipated from the horse being out at work during so many hours. As far as I could ascertain, the supply of straw given to the horse averaged quite as much as 20 lbs. per day; and if this be the case, the horse would contribute about two thirds as much as the ox to make up 6 tons.-P. H. F. 525 tons of mixture, to be carted to a heap and fermented. This is exclusive of a great weight of water.* In six months' fatting of 50 head of catte, in covered yards, the amount of straw saved is therefore 100 tons; worth, at Mr. Horsfall's estimate, 35s. per ton, to convert into butter and beef! I conclude this part of the subject by observing, that the proper use of straw as litter is, to provide a comfortable bed, and to absorb the excrements of the stock. These conditions can only be fully secured when the bed on which the animals lie is covered. STRAW AS AN ARTICLE OF FOOD. All cattle will eat a certain quantity of straw if they can get it. The calf, who knows no stint, nevertheless, chews straw in his pen, and the pampered medal ist at Baker Street, or Bingley Hall, astonishes wondering citizens by condescending to eat a portion of his bed. Nor is this an abnormal condition of things. Any one who will visit those beautiful southern counties, celebrated by Cobbett in his "Rural Rides," where picturesque little homesteads are dotted about the country, and the sound of the flail may yet be heard, will find the fatting cattle standing by turns at the barn door, disposing of each choice handful as it is put forth, and when duly satisfied retiring to the shed to chew the cud, showing every sign of content and enjoyment.f The yards of the smaller farmers, as yet untouched by modern innovation, often display an interesting picture of neatness and economical contrivance. That look of comfort pervades them, which is of the first consequence to the well-being of stock, and without which the "Tables of Nutrition will be studied. in vain. The exact weight of water left in the dung cannot easily be estimated, as a portion evaporates and some runs off; but if 116 tons per annum fall on a yard 50 feet by 40 feet, and if eight such yards are needed for 50 head of stock, and if the dung be exposed during 6 months of average rain-fall, the 525 tons of dung will be soaked by 464 tons of water-H. E. + This picture belongs to the poetry of agriculture. No doubt the best-fed beast delights in an cccasional lock of straw, which doubtless is of great service, directly to digestion, and indirectly to nutrition; but he likes it as the citizen does his plain boiled potato with his steak, or the northern tourist his thin oatmeal cake, or single saucerfull of porridge with cream. But our author shows plainly, further on, that he does not overrate straw as the mainstay of a diet. ary, nor does he seem to consider the natural form of straw to be the most available form for the general purposes of nutrition. The hint on "comfort" which follows is a word in season.P. H. F. The analyses appended to this paper show that straw of various kinds contains rather more of the muscle and flesh producing substances, and considerably more of those which furnish heat and fat, than turnips. A ton of straw contains more food than a ton of roots. But if cattle are fed on the latter alone they will thrive, and on the former store stock will barely, under any circumstances, retain their condition. This proves nothi g s to comparative value, but it proves that the elements of nutrition must not only exist, but they must exist in an available form. An ox fed on oil-cake alone would shortly die, because the elements of nutrition would not be presented to him in an available form. But it does not follow that oil cake presented in some other form could not be digested. The same ap plies to straw; and, indeed, we should be led to conclude, from the fact of an ox requiring so much bulk in his food, that straw might be employed to supply that need. Straw is a cheap article with which to distend the stomach, and we ought to use it in just such proportions as we find, by experience, it can be profitably used, as a substitute for other and more expensive food. There are two main elements in our calculation: cost of food, and value of beef produced. There is another : value of the manure. But although nitrogen ous and other elements are worth something as manure, they are worth more in the shape of meat. Cattle should be fed, therefore, so that as little as possible goes into the manure. In other words, the food should be given in such a form that the animal can appropriate the maximum of its most valuable constituents. There are few farmers who do not use straw to some extent as a substitute for some portion of the more costly articles of diet. Perhaps its more general use, in this way, is as food for store cattle in combination with roots. If 20 lbs. of straw and 1 cwt. of roots cause an ox to thrive as fast as 2 cwt. of roots, then there will be a gain to the feeder by using the former. It is a common plan in razing districts, where roots are scarce, to feed store cattle on about 20 lbs. of straw and 3 lbs. of bean meal. I have found them do better on straw, with roots instead of meal, even when the supply of roots did not exceed cwt. per head per day. Cattle wintered on straw and meal only become "hide bound" with staring coats. *Surely not alone? When was this ever put to the proof? Farmers, talking in a loose way, may have boasted of fatting beasts on turnips alone, but this was most probably effected in well littered yards; so that they spoke taking no account of the straw consumed in addition the value of which, as an auxiliary, is sufficiently indicated in the previous page.-P. H. F. The cheapest, though not probably the most economical, plan of feeding store cattle is to give them whole roots, and to put the straw, uncut, into racks, making them, in fact, cut and prepare their own food. The objection to this plan is the danger of choking an animal by a small root, or a portion of one, sticking in the throat. There is great risk of such an accident when the roots are small and hard. Mangold, being soft and usually larger than turnips and Swedes, may be given with comparative safety. Store animals fed in this way will do well, and perhaps as well as on prepared food, probably in consequence of the more perfect mastication and deglutition of food when taken slowly. It was one of the advantages of thrashing by flail that the straw came daily from the barn into the racks as it was wanted. Under the present system it will generally be found more convenient to cut a portion of the straw stack into chaff at a leisure time, and store it away for future use. It is quite indispensable to store it in a place free from damp, for unless kept perfectly sweet it will disorder the stock, and will not be eaten with relish. A cheap and excellent floor for a chaff house is made with asphalte; and unless the site is particularly dry, the interior walls should have a coating of the same material, reaching three or four feet from the ground. The cost of cutting straw into chaff with a machine driven by horse gear is 6s. per ton. And it costs quite as much to cut it by steam power, unless other machinery, covering part of the expense, is driven at the same time. Under the most favorable circumstances a saving of 28. per ton may be effected.* It has been suggested that steaming straw renders it more wholesome. On trial I find that a large apparatus with two "pans" will steam 250 bushels, weighing 1625 lbs, in a day, at a cost of 78. 6d. per ton. This quantity would be sufficient for 90 head of cattle, supposing each to receive 18 lbs. daily. The expense of steaming a smaller quantity is much greater in proportion, as the cost 3 horses to work by turns, two at a time.... For use of chaff cutter and horse-gear (10 per cent. on 251. if used once a If 4 tons are cut in a day the cost is 58 9d. per ton; it would, however, te a long day's work to cut that quantity into short chaff fit for feeding cattle with a 2-horse gear. If allowance be made for short days in winter, when chaff is most in use, and for the interruptions which sometimes 6s. per ton is not too high an estimate.-H. E. occur, of fuel and attendance cannot be reduced in proportion to the smaller quantity of straw steamed. The expense of this process is very much reduced, when the waste steam of a fixed engine can be employed. If it cost 6s per ton to cut straw into chaff, and an additional 7s. 6d. per ton to steam it, then it may well be doubted whether the cost of preparation is warranted by the value of the article when prepared. Straw with its 40 per cent. of woody fibre is, at the best, anything but digestible. And we know of no available method for converting this fibre into food. Steaming does not appear to do much for it except to make it palatable; and I believe, the advantages derived from steaming may be obtained at much less cost, by fermentation with pulped roots. Fatting cattle can readily be induced to eat from 10 lbs. to 14 lbs. of straw-chaff by mixing it with their cake or corn. Either fatting or store cattle will eat any kind of chaff when mixed and fermented with pulped roots. My cows are at the present time eating 18 lbs. each daily of straw-chaff prepared by this method; and I have found no difficulty in inducing them to eat rape-cake, which otherwise they would not touch, by grinding it small and mixing it into the heap of pulped roots and chaff. With regard to the value of different sorts of straw, any kind saved in good condition is better than any other kind at all damaged. If at all injured, it should be condemned for litter; none but the best should be given to stock. The nearer it approaches to ripeness when cut, the less wholesome and nutritious it is. Cattle prefer oat-straw, or barley-straw with clover in it, and both are excellent fodder. Pea haulm is eagerly eaten by sheep, and is very serviceable in the racks of horses and store cattle in the winter months. On sheep farms every handful should be saved for the ewes and store flock. Bean haulm is frequently exposed too long in the field, but if carted in good condition, it should be carefully saved and cut into chaff. For although cattle and horses will eat it from racks during the winter months, they will waste a portion. On dairy-farms bean-straw is especially useful for the cows, and may be made palatable by fermenting with pulped roots It is an interesting fact that well-fed cattle, kept in open yards, will eat more straw during the winter months than other cattle kept under the warm shelter of a roof. The careful manager saves his stock of bean-straw until the cold weather sets in, knowing that at that season its bitter flavor will be disregarded. During the present winter I compared the quantity of mixed hay and strawchaff eaten by six oxen, fattened in a warm cattle-house, with that consumed by cattle of the same age and breed in an adjoining yard. Each lot was fed alike in respect of corn and roots, and as much chaff was given as they would eat. Those in the house ate 14 lbs., and the others 18 lbs. daily; showing a difference of nearly a fourth less carbonaceous food, required by cattle when kept in a condition of artificial warmth. This fact indicates the value of straw for maintaining animal warmth. It would |