sustained, in Ireland at least, by
allowing the hay to remain too long in cocks in the field. "Within the
last three or four years," says Mr. Baldwin, of the Glasnevin Albert
Model Farm, "we have made agricultural tours through twenty-five of
the thirty-two counties of Ireland; and from careful consideration
of the subject, and having in some instances used a tape-line and
weighing-machine to assist our judgment, we have come to the conclusion
that one-twentieth of the hay-crop of Ireland is permitted to rot
in field-cocks. The portion on the ground, as well as that on the
outside of the cocks, is too often only fit for manure. And the loss
of aftermath, and of the subsequent year's crop (if hay or pasture),
suffers to the extent of from sixpence to one shilling per acre. If we
unite all these sources, the loss sustained annually in this country is
something serious to contemplate. On an average, for all Ireland, it is
not under 20 per cent., or a fifth of the actual value of the crop."
This is a startling statement; but I do not believe it to be an
exaggeration of the actual state of things.

_Damaged Hay and Straw._--Damaged corn and potatoes, so much injured as
to be unfit for human food, are generally given, and with apparently
good results, to the inferior animals. The "meat manufacturing
machines," as the edible varieties of the domesticated animals are now
generally termed, are not very dainty in their choice of food; and
vegetable substances which would excite the disgust of the lords of the
creation are rendered nutritious and agreeable by being reorganised in
the mechanisms of oxen, sheep, and pigs.

Now, although it is pretty generally known that musty corn and
diseased potatoes form good feeding stuffs, it is not so patent whether
or not the natural food of stock, such as hay and straw in a diseased
state, is proper food for those animals. This question is worthy of
consideration. Firstly, I shall describe the nature of the diseases
which most frequently affect fodder; these are, "mildew" and "mould."
These diseases are produced by the ravages of minute and very low forms
of vegetable life, termed by the botanists _epiphytical fungi_. The
mildew (_Puccinia graminis_) generally attacks the grasses when they are
growing, and is more frequently met with on rich and heavily manured
soils. In localities where heavy night-fogs and dews are of common
occurrence, this pest often destroys whole crops. On the other h