d to be equal in nutritive
power to that substance--that is, it will, if assimilated, be converted
into four-tenths of its weight of fat. Now as cellulose forms from
six-tenths to eight-tenths of the weight of straws, it is evident that
if the whole of this substance were digestible, straws would be an
exceedingly valuable fattening food. When straw in an unprepared state
is consumed, there is no doubt but that a large proportion of its
cellulose remains unappropriated--nay more, it is equally certain that
the hard woody fibre protects, by enveloping them, the soluble and
easily digestible constituents of the straw from the action of the
_gastric juice_. I would, therefore, recommend that straw should be
either cooked or fermented before being made use of; in either of these
states its constituents are far more digestible than when the straw
is merely cut, or even when it is in the form of chaff. An excellent
mode of treating straw is to reduce it to chaff, subject it to the
action of steam, and mix it with roots and oil-cake or corn. Mr.
Lawrence, of Cirencester, one of the most intelligent agriculturists
in England, cooks his chaff, which he largely employs, in the following
manner:--"We find that, taking a score of bullocks together fattening,
they consume, per head per diem, 3 bushels of chaff mixed with just half
a hundred-weight of pulped roots, exclusive of cake or corn; that is to
say, rather more than 2 bushels of chaff are mixed with the roots, and
given at two feeds, morning and evening, and the remainder is given
with the cake, &c., at the middle day feed, thus:--We use the steaming
apparatus of Stanley, of Peterborough, consisting of a boiler in the
centre, in which the steam is generated, and which is connected by a
pipe on the left hand with a large galvanised iron receptacle for
steaming food for pigs, and on the right with a large wooden tub lined
with copper, in which the cake, mixed with water, is made into a thick
soup. Adjoining this is a slate tank of sufficient size to contain one
feed for the entire lot of bullocks feeding. Into this tank is laid
chaff, about one foot deep, upon which a few ladles of soup are thrown
in a _boiling state_; this is thoroughly mixed with the chaff with a
three-grained fork, and pressed down firm; and this process is repeated
until the slate tank is full, when it is covered down for an hour or two
before feeding time. The soup is then found entirely absorbed by the
cha