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Show THE STRAW STACK Ey Dean C. F. Curtiss, Iowa State Agricultural College to waste when It Is much needed for litter or bedding. The old, adage, "Well bedded Is half fed" has never been as fully accepted as It should be, I havo no---- known a good caretaker or fitter of live stock who underrated the Importance of liberal bedding. bed-ding. The proper place for tho straw stick at the end of tho feeding season is In tho manure pile. j ""p'!" straw slack Is to a considerable degree an Index -f American agriculture. Ono can draw some rather safe conclusions concerning con-cerning th- agriculture of a farming region by observing the straw stacks. in all sections vvhero Hvo jftock o::u;mo a prominent place you will observe f'jod, clean, well-built straw stjeks. No btraw eve 1 goes to w.ate on t he -"lock farm ln some caves the straw Is stored under roof. This is better than stacking. There aro two kinds of agriculture v.lre straw l.s a waste product. One Is In a region s new thai Hoc!; raising has not yet co.no In. Tho other Is In a region j-o old that f-tork raising has gone out. Tho former is found In the west, tho latter Is found in the-cast. the-cast. One does not need to travel far vve. to lind rtgions where they burn straw as '1 comes from the machine. Tho landscape along tho railroads running through the noithwtcrn wheat fields Is at times brll-ll.U'Hy brll-ll.U'Hy illuminated nt night by the flame of Lurning straw stacks. Yet conservationists are prone to look to the mountain stream, the forest and the mine as tho chief field of conrervatlon. In the older rettled regions where small grain Is raised and vvheru thoro is no sto-.l; tho straw pllo Is seldom fired. It Is piled larcks&ly and allowed to roL Some men I.lvc an aversion to burning or selling straw frcm tho farm. They do not know why. They havo no logical reason for refusing to sell straw when there is no stock to utlllzo It, vet It remains on tho farm '.o waste. But lillltj good accrues to a farr- from a decaying decay-ing straw pile without stock. In tho absence ab-sence ot stock the straw might better be sold and tho proceeds Invested In ollmcal, brun or alfalfa, which will add fertility to tho farm. Hut sboit.ise of stock leaves little need for feedslult's. The farm Is tho loer In both ways. Thero is something discordant discord-ant and discouraging In unsightly, decaying ft raw piles In a land adapted to diversified farming The land of dccajlng straw stacks Is a land 'to hastening Ills a prey" This great loss In American agriculture should bo stopped. The ftraw should all be utilised either ns feed or bedding for farm animals. If it cannot be used profitably where grown U should be shipped to tho nearest region where It can be utilized. The Hrltlsh farmer winters a considerable portion of his live ftock on straw and turnips. For fattening he addb to this the nitrogenous by-products, brun and ollmeal, that havo come from the American farm, which we can III ufford to spare. On many farms straw Is allowed |