372 ANNUAL KECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



It is bad enough that these precious elements, for lack of 

 which our soils arc Buffering and our crops tailing away, 

 should go out of the country at all. It is too bad that when 

 foreigners come for them they should be allowed to take the 

 best we have, and send us their refuse in return. 



COMPOSITION OF FLANTS. 

 Fodder Corn and Sweet -Potatoes. 



Professor S. "W. Johnson reports some analyses of sweet- 

 potato and of fodder corn executed under his direction, by 

 Mr. E. II. Jenkins. Except in the larger content of sugar, the 

 composition of the sweet-potato corresponds very closely to 

 that of the common potato. The nutritive values of the two 

 would be nearly equal. 



The samples of fodder corn contained, on the average, 

 rather more cellulose, and only about one half as much albu- 

 minoids and fats as are given in standard European analyses. 

 This difference is doubtless due to the fact that the corn 

 analyzed was much more mature than that commonly em- 

 ployed in Europe. This inferiority in quality of the older 

 corn is probably more than made up by the larger quantity, 

 particularly if it be fed with judicious admixtures of con- 

 centrated foods, like cotton-seed cake, linseed cake, bran, or 

 corn -meal, which will supply the deficient albuminoids and 

 fats. {American Journal of Science, xiii., 196). 



Buckwheat Straw. 



To determine the composition of the straw as grown on the 

 farm, Professor F. H. Storer has made analyses of two sam- 

 ples which turned out very similar to the straw of wheat, 

 oats, barley, and other cereal grain, both in ash and proxi- 

 mate constituents. "A ton (2000 pounds) would contain 

 about 6j pounds of phosphoric acid, 40 or 50 pounds of real 

 potash, and 12 pounds of nitrogen." As regards the fodder 

 value, Professor Storer says : " It would seem from the anal- 

 yses that buckwheat straw, when mixed in small proportion 

 with richer kinds of foods, might, like other straws, be use- 

 fully employed for feeding animals in many cases; espe- 

 cially if it were previously softened by steaming or soak- 

 ing." 



CD 



