Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1877-10-19
Save the Straw.

The whirr of the threshing machines
is heard in every direction, and the
nights are illumined with burning straw
piles. The straw is the best this year
as food for stock, that it has ever been
and it is wasteful sin to burn it at any
time. Money can be made out of it by
any farmer who manages his cards ri ght
The straw is bright and sweet, and, with
good protection from the cold and
storms, cattle can be fed on it all winter
with slight addition of other nutritious
food. By attention to the stock through
the winter, as it should be done, with
plenty of straw, and good pasture in
summer, the best fortune can be made
with the least capital.
Within the past two years there has
been considerable change in the opin-
ion of cattle breeders as to the value of
straw, The most intelligent and sue
cessful breeders in England are fully
convinced that, with a little other food
rich in albuminous matter, straw is the
cheapest food for profitable stock rails
ing, and it is being used largely And
English straw is not equal to ours, for
the reason that in harvest they are con-
stantly troubled with rains and fogs
which detract from its value. Turnips
are highly recommended for stock, and
they are useful with other dry food, yet
turnips contain only per cent. of flesh
forming elements and less than 5 per
cent. of fat Straw contains per cent.
of fesh-formers and over Ii per cent, of
fat-fOrmers. In comparison with good
hay, oat-straw is worth 30 per cent. OF
hay in fatty matter, 20 per cent. of
fesh-forming constituents, and more
than double that of hay in woody fibre
And German chemists inform us that
from 40 to 60 per cent. OF the woody
fibre of hay or straw is capable of being
assimilated to the system OF Illuminating
animals. From the same chemists land
we are mostly dependent on that source
for our agricultural chemistry we learn
that the average straw contains one part
of oil, four parts Of fesh-formers, ten
parts of sugar, gum and other fat-form-
ers, and thirty parts of digestable fiber
And this is the secret Of the English
demand for our Oil-cake, containing as it
does the exact elements to be used with
straw, and just what straw lacks for the
healthy and vigorous development of
the animal in fat flesh and muscle.
1t is admitted that straw is less yaln-
able unless fed with small quantity OF
highly nitrogenized food The oil-cake
is taken to England from every oil-mill,
and our straw is burned in every neigh
borhood When will our farmers learn
wisdom, to utilize the rich blessings be-
slowed upon us, and not insult heaven
by the ascending smoke in thousand
harvest fields? The English and French
farmers have long adopted the use of
straw for stock, and in emergencies for
manures. They consider it waste to use
it for bedding or the compost heap.
They prefer using it for stock feed, and
importing bones from our cities and
plains, and guano from the distant is
lands. And the time is coming when
farmers will laugh at the foolishness of
their ancestors in burning this valuable
agent in stock raising.-Iooa State Reg
ister
Cleanliness IS very important IN fowl
houses, for experience shows that poul-
try are unfavorably affected by emana-
tons from filthy quarters, and, beside,
working in places where roosts and floor
are covered with the droppings is decid-
eddy unpleasant. Dry earth, in the form
of powder, scattered everywhere, will
absorb the bad odors, giving a whole
some atmosphere to the hen house, and
at the same time preserve the manure
in the least offensive condition. Besides
these purposes, box of dry earth
should be in convenient corner Of ev-
cry fowl-house for the fowls to roll in
Dust from the highway is the most con-
venient. Replace the same by an equal
quantity Of good gravel, and the public
will be the gainer-Liue Stock Jour
nal.