532
The straw or haum is used as fodder for work-horses, in-stead of hay, and, when well harvested, forms excellent pro-vender, insomuch as to be almost of equal value with thegrain crop even when that is abundant ; and when the latteris unproductive, and the harvest season favourable for "winningthe haum, it may greatly exceed the value of the grain. Peas-straw is likewise an excellent food for sheep, who are parti-cularly fond of it. As the haum is seldom if ever sold, thereis no data on which its weight and consequent money valuecan be estimated; but a good crop, in favourable seasons, mayperhaps weigh 150 Scotch hay stones, or a ton and a half;and may consequently be worth from L. 3 to L. 5 per statuteacre. The same observation already made respecting the in-jurious effects of bean-straw on some horses, and its unfit-ness for riding horses, apply to pease haum.
The application of the grain produce is the same with thatof beans. Porridge, or thick gruel made of peas or beanmeal, and given along with skimmed-milk, is an excellentfood for breeding calves after they have been fed a few weekson new milk. By means of this substitute or addition, a far-mer may breed up a great many more calves yearly, with theordinary number of cows, than could possibly be done on milkalone. Oat-meal porridge, however, and perhaps barley-meal,answers equally well. But of late years, beans and peas havenot been nearly so saleable as oats, and their price, even whenin demand, has not been at all proportional to the quantity ofmeal which they produce, in relation to the meal produce ofoats; and consequently peas and beans can be more econo-mically applied to this purpose than oats, and likewise to thefeeding of pigs and horses.