274 THE NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL FOOD OF 



albuminoid nitrogen in twenty-one samples of hay ; the results 

 of these analyses are given in the report of the station for 1879. 



Oscar Kellner has investigated the nature of the nitrogenous 

 matters in various fodders at different stages of growth and in 

 hay {Landvjirthsclmftlich Jahrliuch, viii. suppl. i. 243, 1879 ; 

 Jahresh. Agiicidtur-Chemie, 1879, p. 147). He estimated the 

 amides and amido-acids by Sachsse's and Schulze's methods. 



The specimens of which the analyses follow were collected by 

 Mr J. R. W. Wallace of Auchenbrach. They were for the most 

 part taken in May and June of this year 1883, though this was 

 rather late for some of the plants. Only those plants, or parts 

 of plants, which would have been eaten by sheep were taken for 

 analysis. After collection they were immediately packed in 

 damp cloth, and sent to the laboratory by post ; on arrival the 

 amount of water was determined at once by drying a sample at 

 100° C. ; in this way the amount of water in the fresh plant was 

 obtained within narrow limits. 



The fibre was determined by the usual " acid and alkali " 

 method of Henneberg and Stohman, which^ consists in boiling 

 the dried grass first with a dilute solution of sulphuric acid, then, 

 after filtering and washing, with dilute caustic soda, and washing 

 thoroughly with hot water and with dilute solution of ammonia. 

 The fatty or oily matter was obtained by extracting the dried 

 grass repeatedly with ether. This yields not only true oil, but 

 waxy and resinous matters, and more or less chlorophyll and 

 other colouring matters ; but little use can be made of this 

 determination in considering the nutritious value of grasses, for 

 the amount of matters not fat extracted by the ether varies 

 much with different grasses, and even, though to a less extent, with 

 the same grass at different stages of growth. In the case of 

 the rushes examined but little foreign matter other than fat was 

 extracted by the ether, whilst from the sedges and grasses, in 

 most cases, much colouring matter, &c., was dissolved by the 

 ether. The percentage of ash given is that of crude ash, 

 obtained by burning the grass at a low temperature. The 

 amount of silica in the ash was usually determined; in the case 

 of the two rushes examined, it was less than 2 per cent, and in 

 the ash of the blow-grass less than in that of most grasses, being 

 about 13 per cent. The non-nitrogenous extractive matter 

 was in all cases estimated by difference. The total nitrogenous 

 matters were estimated by multiplying the total nitrogen 

 obtained by a soda-lime combustion by 6'2o. 



The nitrogen in grasses and other fodder plants is not all in 

 the form of albuminoids, but partly as amides, amido-acids, and 

 sometime as nitrates, ammonia, and possibly other forms. These 

 latter nitrogenous bodies do not fulfil »the same functions as 

 albuminoids in the nutrition of the animal body, and it is 



