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:—

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 analyses 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 analyses 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 analyses 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 analysed 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:—

ANALYSES OF IRISH OAT-STRAW.
No. 1. Obtained in the Dublin Market.
From Co.
Wicklow. 		No. 2. No. 3. No. 4.
Water 14·00 14·00 14·00 14·00
Flesh-forming principles—
a. Soluble in water 4·08 2·02 2·04 1·46
b. Insoluble in water 2·09 3·16 3·00 2·23
Oil 1·84 1·40 1·26 1·00
Sugar, gum, and other fat-forming matters 13·79 12·67 10·18 11·16
Woody fibre 59·96 61·79 65·45 65·29
Mineral matter 4·24 4·96 4·07 4·86
————————————
100·00 100·00 100·00 100·00

All the specimens of oats, the analyses of which are given in the preceding table, are assumed to contain 14 per cent. of water, in order the more correctly to compare their nutritive value. No. 1 contained 18·23 per cent. of water; No. 2, 12·90; No. 3, 12·74; and No. 4, 12·08. 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.

ANALYSES OF IRISH WHEAT-STRAW.
No. 1. No. 2.No. 3. Obtained in the Dublin Markets.
Green, changing
to yellow.
County Kildare.		Ripe.
County Dublin.		Over Ripe.
County Dublin.		No. 4.No. 5. No. 6.
Water 13·00 13·15 12·14 10·88 11·22 12·12
Flesh-forming principles—
a. Soluble in water 1·25 0·98 0·44 0·06 0·42 0·30
b. Insoluble in water 1·26 1·40 1·41 1·90 1·00 1·76
Oil 1·22 1·13 1·14 0·90 1·17 1·08
Sugar, gum, and other fat-forming matters 4·18 3·98 3·88 4·08 3·89 4·30
Woody fibre 75·84 76·17 77·76 78·67 79·18 77·15
Mineral matter (ash) 3·25 3·19 3·23 3·51 3·12 3·29
——————————————————
100·00 100·00 100·00 100·00 100·00 100·00

The results of these analyses 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 constituents. 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.

As compared with white turnips, the nutritive value of oat-straw stands very high, for whilst the former contains but little more than 1 per cent. of flesh-formers, and less than 5 per cent. of fat-formers, the latter includes about 4 per cent. of flesh-formers, and 13 per cent. of fat-formers. Again, whilst the amount of woody fibre in turnips is only about 3 per cent., that substance constitutes no less than 60 per cent. of oat-straw. In comparison with hay—taking into consideration the prices of both articles—oat-straw also stands high, as will be seen by comparing the following analyses of common meadow hay with that of properly harvested straw:—