Part 15
a.n.a.lYSIS OF FRESH FURZE, BY DR. BLYTH.
100 parts contain:--
_Matters readily soluble in water and easily digested._
[*] Alb.u.minous, or flesh-forming compounds 168 Fat and heat-producing, or respiratory elements, viz., sugar, gum, &c. &c. 783 Ash 083 ----- Total matters soluble in water 1034 [* Containing nitrogen 0265]
_Matters insoluble in water._
Oil 214 [+] Alb.u.minous, or flesh-producing compounds 283 Fat and heat-producing, or respiratory elements 100 Woody fibre 2880 Ash 323 ----- Total matters insoluble in water 3800 Water, expelled at 212 5150 ----- 9948 Total nitrogen in plant 071 Total alb.u.minous, or flesh-producing compounds 451 Total respiratory, or heat and fat-producing compounds 883 Total ash 406 The ash contains in 100 parts:-- Potash 2000 Phosphoric acid 872 [+ Containing nitrogen 0445]
If the large per-centage of water be deducted, the dry, nutritive matters can then be more readily compared with the amount of the same substances in other feeding articles:--
_Composition of 100 parts of furze dried at 212. Matters soluble in water in the dry furze._
[*] Alb.u.minous compounds 347 Respiratory elements 1615 Ash 171 ------ Total matters soluble in water 2133 [* Containing nitrogen 0546]
_Matters insoluble in water in the dry furze._
Oil 441 [+] Alb.u.minous compounds 584 Respiratory elements 206 Woody fibre 5938 Ash 666 ------ Total matters insoluble in water 7835 ----- 9968
Total nitrogen in dry furze 146 Total alb.u.minous compounds 913 Total respiratory elements 1820 Total ash 836 [+ Containing nitrogen 0917]
_Composition of ash per cent._
Potash 2000 Phosphoric Acid. 872
The results of these a.n.a.lyses show that dry furze contains an amount of nutriment equal to that found in dry gra.s.s. The nature of its composition resembles, as might be expected, that of its allied plants, vetches, &c., and therefore it exceeds the gra.s.ses in its amount of ready formed fatty matter.
SECTION IV.
STRAW AND HAY.
_Straw._--At the present time, when the attention of the farmer is becoming more and more devoted to the production of meat, it is very desirable that his knowledge of the exact nutritive value of the various feeding substances should be more extensive than it is. No doubt, most feeders are practically acquainted with the relative value of corn and oil-cake--of Swedish turnips and white turnips; but their knowledge of the food equivalents of many other substances is still very defective.
For example, every farmer is not aware that Indian corn is a more economical food than beans for fattening cattle, and less so for beasts of burthen. Locust-beans, oat-dust, malt-combings, and many other articles, occasionally consumed by stock, have not, as yet, determinate places a.s.signed to them in the feeder's scale of food equivalents.
The points involved in the economic feeding of stock are not quite so simple as some farmers, more especially those of the amateur cla.s.s, appear to believe. There are many feeders who sell their half-finished cattle at a profit, and yet they cannot, without loss, convert their stock into those obese monsters which are so much admired at agricultural shows. The complete fattening of cattle is a losing business with some feeders, and a profitable one with others.
Stall-feeding is a branch of rural economy which, perhaps more than any other, requires the combination of "science with practice;" yet how few feeders are there who have the slightest knowledge of the composition of food substances, or who are agreed as to the feeding value, absolute or relative, of even such well-known materials as oil-cake, straw, or oats!
"It is thus seen how inexact are the equivalents which are understood to be established for the different foods used for the maintenance of the animals. It is equally plain, when we reflect on the different methods pursued for the preservation of the animals, that we are still far from having attained that perfection towards which our efforts tend.
Visit one hundred farms, taken by chance in different parts of the country, and you will find in each, methods directly opposite--a totally peculiar manner of managing the stalls; you will see, in short, that the conditions of food, of treatment, and of hygiene, remain not understood in seven-eighths of rural farms."[29]
The straws of the cereal and leguminous plants are a striking ill.u.s.tration of the erroneous opinions and practices which prevail amongst agriculturists with respect to particular branches of their calling. The German farmers regard straw as the most valuable const.i.tuent of home-made fertilisers, and their leases in general prohibit their selling off the straw produced on their farms. Yet chemical a.n.a.lysis has clearly proved that the manurial value of straw is perfectly insignificant, and that, as a const.i.tuent of stable manure, it is chiefly useful as an absorbent of the liquid egesta of the animals littered upon it. As food for stock, straw was at one time regarded by our farmers as almost perfectly innutritious; some even went so far as to declare that it possessed no nutriment whatever, and even those who used it, did so more with the view of correcting the too watery nature of turnips, than with the expectation of its being a.s.similated to the animal body. Within the last few years, however, straw has been largely employed by several of the most intelligent and successful feeders in England, who report so favorably upon it as an economical feeding stuff, that it has risen considerably in the estimation of a large section of the agricultural public. Now, even without adopting the very high opinion which Mechi and Horsfall entertain relative to the nutritive power of straw, I am altogether disposed to disagree with those who affirm that its application should be restricted to manurial purposes.
Unless under circ.u.mstances where there is an urgent demand for straw as litter, that article should be used as food for stock, for which purpose it will be found, if of good quality, and given in a proper state, a most economical kind of dry fodder--equal, if not superior to hay, when the prices of both articles are considered.
The composition of straw is very different from that of grain.
The former contains no starch, but it includes an exceedingly high proportion of woody fibre; the latter is in great part composed of starch, and contains but an insignificant amount of woody fibre. Dr.
Voelcker, the consulting chemist to the Royal Agricultural Society of England, and Dr. Anderson, chemist to the Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland, have made a large number of a.n.a.lyses of the straws of the cereal and leguminous plants, the results of which are of the highest interest to the agriculturist. In the following tables the more important results of these investigations are given:--
a.n.a.lYSES OF STRAW, BY DR. VOELCKER.
+--------------------------+----------+--------+--------+--------+--------+
No. 1.
No. 2.
No. 3.
No. 4.
No. 5.
Wheat,
Wheat,
Barley,
Barley,
Oat,
just ripe
over
dead
not too
cut
and well
ripe.
ripe.
ripe.
green.
harvested.
+--------------------------+----------+--------+--------+--------+--------+
Water
1333
917
1520
1750
1600
Alb.u.men, and other
protein compounds:--
_a_. Soluble in water
128
006
068
551
}573
_b_. Insoluble in water
165
206
375
/
298
Oil
174
065
136
117
157
Sugar, mucilage,
extractive matters,
&c. (soluble in water)
426
346
224
1604
Digestible woody
fibre and cellulose
1940
597
}7144
2634
Indigestible
}8226
/
fibre &c.
5413
/
6654
/
2486
Inorganic matter:--
_a._ Soluble
113
129
288
576
}452
_b._ Insoluble
308
105
038
/
094
+----------+--------+--------+--------+--------+
10000
10000
10000
10000
10000
+--------------------------+----------+--------+--------+--------+--------+
+--------------------------+----------+--------+--------+--------+--------+
No. 6.
No. 7.
No. 8.
No. 9.
No. 10.
Oat, cut
Oat,
Bean.
Pea.
Flax
when
over
Chaff.
fairly
ripe.
ripe.
+--------------------------+----------+--------+--------+--------+--------+
Water
1600
1600
1940
1602
1460
Alb.u.men, and other
protein compounds:--
_a_. Soluble in water
262
129
151
396
}475
_b_. Insoluble in water
146
236
185
590
/
Oil
105
125
102
234
282
Sugar, mucilage,
extractive matters,
&c. (soluble in water)
1057
319
418
832
872
Digestible woody
fibre and cellulose
3017
2775
275
1774
1856
Indigestible
fibre &c.
3178
4182
6558
4279
4312
Inorganic matter:--
_a._ Soluble
364
226
231
272
407
_b._ Insoluble
271
408
140
221
336
+----------+--------+--------+--------+--------+
10000
10000
10000
10000
10000
+--------------------------+----------+--------+--------+--------+--------+
[..] This table contains in a condensed form all the results of Voelcker's a.n.a.lyses of the straws which are given in his paper published in the _Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society of England_, vol. xxii., part 2. 1862.
Nos. 5, 6, and 7 were a.n.a.lysed shortly after being cut, when they contained a high proportion of water. They have, therefore, been calculated to contain 16 per cent. of moisture so as to arrive at accurate relative results.
a.n.a.lYSES OF STRAW, BY DR. ANDERSON.
+----------------+-----------------+---------+-----------------+--------+
Wheat
Barley
Wheat from
from
Barley from
from
East Lothian.
Kent.
East Lothian.
Kent.
+--------+--------+---------+--------+--------+--------+
Water
1062
1093
1115
1144
1115
1110
Flesh-formers--
Soluble
086
037
137
142
039
066
Insoluble
051
112
100
154
112
198
Oil
080
100
150
097
088
105
Respiratory
elements--
Soluble
268
668
526
322
611
456
Insoluble
4488
3643
3879
3556
3838
2795
Woody fibre
3288
3478
3501
4134
3662
4753
Ash
620
804
632
421
562
485
+--------+--------+---------+--------+--------+--------+
9943
9935
10040
9970
10027
9968
+----------------+--------+--------+---------+--------+--------+--------+
+----------------+---------------+--------+----------+---------+--------+
Oat
Oat from
Oat
Sandy Oat
from
850 feet
Oat from
from
from
Sea
above
Mellhill,
Kent
East Lothian.
level
Sea level,
Inchture,
(White
East
East
Scotland.
one
Lothian.
Lothian.
side.)
+-------+-------+--------+----------+---------+--------+
Water
1170
1095
1260
1128
1170
1055
Flesh-formers--
Soluble
040
103
067
092
095
033
Insoluble
093
043
038
039
121
033
Oil
145
077
125
136
160
100
Respiratory
elements--
Soluble
1012
690
716
742
1201
623
Insoluble
3352
3477
2428
2955
2335
3095
Woody fibre
3536
3873
4849
4440
4527
4740
Ash
636
628
511
507
395
362
+-------+-------+--------+----------+---------+--------+
9984
9986
9994
10039
10014
10041
+----------------+-------+-------+--------+----------+---------+--------+
[..] This table is compiled from Dr. Anderson's paper in the Transactions of the Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland for March, 1862.
Many very important conclusions are deducible from the facts recorded in these valuable tables. We learn from them that straw is more nutritious when it is cut in the ripe state than when it is permitted to over-ripen, and that _green_ straw contains a far greater amount of nutriment than is found even in the ripe article. It appears also that the least nutritious kind of straw equals the best variety of turnips in its amount of flesh-forming principles, and greatly exceeds them in its proportion of fat-forming elements. We further learn that in general the different kinds of straw will be found to stand in the following order, the most nutritious occupying the highest, and the least nutritious the lowest place:--
1. Pea-haulm.
2. Oat-straw.
3. Bean-straw with the pods.
4. Barley-straw.
5. Wheat-straw.
6. Bean-stalks without the pods.
It is a matter to be regretted that we possess so little accurate knowledge of the chemical composition of the plants cultivated in Ireland. No doubt the a.n.a.lyses of English grown wheat, beans, mangels, and other plants, serve to give us a general idea of the nature of those vegetables when produced in this country. But this kind of information, though very important, must necessarily be defective, as differences in climate modify--often to a considerable extent--the composition of almost every vegetable. Thus, the results of Anderson's a.n.a.lyses prove Scotch oats to be superior, as a feeding stuff, to Scotch barley, whilst, according to Voelcker and the experience of most English feeders, the barley of parts of England is superior to its oats. It follows, then, that whilst the results of the a.n.a.lyses of straw, made by Voelcker and Anderson are of great interest to the Irish farmer, they would be still more important to him had the straw to which they relate been the produce of Irish soil. In order, therefore, to enable the Irish farmer to form a correct estimate of the value of his straw, we should put him in possession of a more perfect knowledge of its composition than that which is derivable from the investigations to which I have referred. The straws of the cereals--which alone are used here to any extent--should be a.n.a.lysed as carefully and as frequently as those of Great Britain have been; and if such were done, I have no doubt but that the results would indicate a decided difference in composition between the produce of the two countries. Some time ago I entered upon what, at the time, I had intended should be a complete investigation into the composition of Irish straws; but which want of time prevented me from making more than a partial one. The results are given in the following tables:--
a.n.a.lYSES OF IRISH OAT-STRAW.
--------------------------------+--------+------------------------------
No. 1.
Obtained in the Dublin Market.
From Co.+---------+---------+----------
Wicklow.
No. 2.
No. 3.
No. 4.
--------------------------------+--------+---------+---------+---------- Water
1400
1400
1400
1400 Flesh-forming principles--
_a._ Soluble in water
408
202
204
146 _b._ Insoluble in water
209
316
300
223 Oil
184
140
126
100 Sugar, gum, and other
fat-forming matters
1379
1267
1018
1116 Woody fibre
5996
6179
6545
6529 Mineral matter
424
496
407
486 +--------+---------+---------+----------
10000
10000
10000
10000 --------------------------------+--------+---------+---------+----------
All the specimens of oats, the a.n.a.lyses of which are given in the preceding table, are a.s.sumed to contain 14 per cent. of water, in order the more correctly to compare their nutritive value. No. 1 contained 1823 per cent. of water; No. 2, 1290; No. 3, 1274; and No. 4, 1208.
Oat straw, before its removal from the field, often contains nearly half its weight of water; but after being for some time stacked, the proportion of moisture rarely exceeds 14 per cent.
a.n.a.lYSES OF IRISH WHEAT-STRAW.
-----------------------+--------+-------+-------+-----------------------
No. 1.
No. 2.
No. 3.
Green,
Obtained in the Dublin
changing
Markets.
to
Over
yellow.
Ripe.
Ripe. +-----------------------
County
County
County
Kildare.
Dublin.
Dublin.
No. 4.
No. 5.
No. 6.
-----------------------+--------+-------+-------+-------+-------+------- Water
1300
1315
1214
1088
1122
1212 Flesh-forming
principles--
_a._ Soluble in
water
125
098
044
006
042
030 _b._ Insoluble in
water
126
140
141
190
100
176 Oil
122
113
114
090
117
108 Sugar, gum, and other
fat-forming matters
418
398
388
408
389
430 Woody fibre
7584
7617
7776
7867
7918
7715 Mineral matter (ash)
325
319
323
351
312
329 +--------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------
10000
10000
10000
10000
10000
10000 -----------------------+--------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------
The results of these a.n.a.lyses are somewhat different from those arrived at by Voelcker and Anderson. They show that properly harvested Irish oat and wheat straws are far more valuable than those of Scotland, and somewhat less nutritive than those produced in England. They also show that wheat-straw is allowed to over-ripen, by which a very large proportion of its nutritive principles is eliminated and altogether lost, and a considerable part of the remainder converted into an insoluble, and therefore less easily digestible state. Nor is there any advantage to the grain gained by allowing it to remain uncut after the upper portion of the stem has changed from a green to a yellowish color; on the contrary, it also loses a portion--often a very considerable one--of its nitrogenous, or flesh-forming const.i.tuents. It has been clearly proved that wheat cut when green, yields a greater amount of grain, and of a better quality too, than when it is allowed to ripen fully; yet, how often do we not see fields of wheat in this country allowed to remain unreaped for many days, and even weeks, after the crop has attained to its full development!
The oat-straw obtained in the Dublin Market proved less valuable than the green straw which I selected myself from a field of oats; but the discrepancy between them was far less than between the nearly ripe wheat-straw and the straw of that plant purchased in Dublin. During visits which I have paid in harvest-time to the North of Ireland, I noticed that the oats were generally cut whilst green, whereas wheat was almost invariably left standing for at least a week after its perfect maturation, probably for the following reasons:--Firstly, because oats are more liable to shed their seed; secondly, because there is a greater breadth of that crop to be reaped, which necessitates an early beginning; and, lastly, because most farmers know that over-ripe oat-straw is worth but little for feeding purposes, as compared with the greenish-yellow article.
