Old straw is to be preferred to new straw, because it is dryer and more elastic. Its higher price will be more or less made up by the fact of its containing less water, and consequently being lighter bulk for bulk. The more breaking and bruising which straw has undergone, the more will its bulk and elasticity become diminished, and consequently the greater will be the quantity required to make a soft bed. On the other hand, the exposure, by bruising, of the porous material in the interior of the stalks, will render the straw more absorbent than if the stalks were uninjured. The bruising of straw also renders it liable to turn mouldy by breaking the continuity of its hard polished surface, which protects the soft and more absorbent inner substance of the stalk from the action of moisture and disease germs. The foreign straw which is brought over in compressed bales is much inferior to good English straw, chiefly on account of the bruising it has undergone. Wheat straw being tougher than either oat straw or barley straw, is more economical in use than they are, and having a nicer appearance, is justly preferred. The husk of barley is so hard that it sometimes wounds the eyes of horses which sleep on barley straw, and not unfrequently produces grave digestive troubles in animals that eat it. Again, the ears of barley are probably the most common bearers of the fungus which give rise to that very serious, though rare, equine disease, actinomycosis. Persons who have employed it say that rye straw is inferior to barley straw on account of its being harder and rougher. I have found rice straw to be more brittle than oat or barley straw, and consequently to be less economical.

Whatever kind of straw is used for a bedding, it should be of good quality, so that it may be as little liable as possible to cause indigestion or other diseases in the event of horses consuming it; and it should not be of an irritating nature. Inferior samples of English straw are often full of thistles and other weeds.

The chief advantages of straw used in sufficient quantity, are the ease with which it can be procured; the dry and comfortable nature of the bed which it affords; its freedom from properties injurious to the feet; and its nice bright appearance. On the other hand, we find that owing to its feeble power of absorption, the urine becomes distributed throughout the lower layer of the bedding to an extent incompatible with the united conditions of economy and sanitation. Thus, if we desire to preserve a straw bedding in a thoroughly sweet-smelling state, we are obliged to reject a comparatively large proportion of it at each "mucking-out," and even then we cannot always get rid of the objectionable presence of ammonia from the atmosphere of the stall or box. The plan of selecting and drying the less tainted parts is not altogether a desirable compromise; for having been used under the horse, they will be more or less bruised, and even if they are dried in the sun, they cannot be rendered thoroughly sweet. The fact of straw being "long," increases the wastefulness entailed in cleaning out the floor of the box or stall. To obviate this source of loss, straw is sometimes used in a chopped condition for bedding. Foreign straw is often so long, that it would be well to cut each length into three or four parts. These disadvantages, which long-continued habit is apt to make us overlook, cause a more or less pronounced smell of ammonia and other products of decomposition to pervade the atmosphere of the large majority of stables in which straw is employed as a bedding.