STATE AGRICtTLTURAL SOCIETY. 243 

 HAY FIRST CROP. AFTERMATH HAY. 



Moisture, 12.02 Moisture, 11.87 



Albuminous matter, 9.24 Albuminous matter, — 9.84 



Oil and fatty matter,. . 2.68 Oil and fatty matter,.. . 6.84 



Starch, gum, sugar, . . _ 39.75 Starch, gum, sugar,.. . . 42.25 



Woody fiber, 27.41 Woody fiber, 19.77 



Mineral matter, 8.90 Mineral matter, 9.43 



100.00 100.00 



" A comparison between these will show a much greater per- 

 centage of woody fiber, 27.41 in the first crop to 19.77 in the 

 aftermath. The most remarkable difference, however, is in the 

 proportion of oil, being 2.68 in the first crop to 6.84 in the after- 

 math. On inquiry from an observant tenant of a small dairy 

 farm of mine, who has frequently used aftermath hay, I learn 

 that, as compared with the first crop, he finds it induce a greater 

 yield of milk, but attended with some impoverishment in the 

 condition of the cow, and that he uses it without addition of tur- 

 nips or other roots, which he gives when using hay of the first 

 crop — an answer quite in accordance with what might be expec- 

 ted from its chemical composition. 



" It is likewise to be presumed that the quickness of growth 

 will materially affect the composition of grasses, as well as of 

 other vegetables. Your gardener will tell you that if radishes 

 are slow in growth they will be tough and woody, that asparagus 

 melts in eating like butter, and salad is crisp when grown quickly. 

 The same effect will, I apprehend, be found in grasses of slow 

 growth : they will contain more of woody fiber, willi less of 

 starch or sugar. The quality of butter grown on poor pastures 

 is characterized by greater solidity than on rich feeding pastures, 

 the cows having to travel over lUfjre space require a greater sup- 

 ply of the elements of res})irati(;n; wliilst tlie grasses grown on 

 these poor pastures contain, in all probability, less of these in a 

 digestible forvi available for respiration. The like result seems 

 probable as from common winter treatment — a produce of butter 

 less in quantity and containing a greater portion of margerinc 

 and a less of olein. 



" It is well known tliat pastures vary greatly in tlieir butter- 

 producing properties; there is, however, as far as I am aware, no 



