commences, and this
soon renders the most mouldy hay palatable, and animals eat with
avidity that which they would otherwise reject. This fermentation
softens the straw, makes it more palatable, and puts it in a state
to assimilate more readily with the other food. In this respect
I think the pulper of great value, particularly upon corn farms
where large crops of straw are grown, and where there is a limited
acreage of pasture, as by its use the pastures may be grazed, the
expensive process of haymaking reduced, and, consequently, an
increased number of cattle kept. I keep one-third more, giving
the young stock a small quantity of oil-cake, which I mix with
the chaff, &c.

3. Choking is utterly impossible, and I have only had one case of
hoove in three years, and that occurred when the mixture had not
fermented.

4. There is an advantage in mixing the meal with the chaff and
pulped roots for fattening animals, as thereby they cannot separate
it, and the moisture from the fermentation softens the meal and
ensures its thorough digestion, whereas, when given in a dry state
without any mixture, frequently a great portion passes away in the
manure.

On the value of the process for a grazing farm with but a small quantity
of plough-land, Mr. Corner, of Woodlands, Holford, Bridgewater, thus
speaks:--

My plan is, first commencing with the grazing beasts, to cut about
an equal quantity of hay and straw and mix with a sufficient
quantity of roots (mostly mangel) to well moisten the chaff; and as
the beasts advance in condition, I lessen the straw and increase
the hay, and in their further progress I mix--in addition to all
hay, chaff, and roots--from 6 to 10 lb. per day to each bullock of
barley and bean-meal, according to its size--and I have them large
sometimes. I sold last week for the London market a lot of Devon
oxen of very prime quality, averaging in weight upwards of 100 stone
imperial each.

For my horses, cows, yearlings, and oxen--the latter to be kept in
a thriving condition, and turned to grass, and kept through the
summer for Christmas, 1860--I cut nearly all straw, with a very
small quantity of hay, and this the offal of the rick. These also
have as many pulped roots as will moisten the chaff, except the
horses, and to them I give, along with bruised oats, just