114 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



species of grass loses in proportion to its amount of ferment and 

 iermcutuble matter, modilied by the amount of sap, and by the 

 weather. It is certain, cure hay how you may, that a loss of vege- 

 table substance occurs. Experiments are yet wanting to determine 

 if grass rapidly dried by artificial heat, preserves its nuti'itive powers 

 unimpaired. If so, then artificial di-ying would require the dried 

 grass to be pressed like screwed hay, to exclude air and moisture ; 

 for the best dried grass is greedy of the last. If it becomes moist, 

 loss will occur. This loss is due chiefly to the change of sugar 

 into carbonic acid, alcohol and volatile essences — the ethers derived 

 from alcohol. This occasions a loss of actual nutriment. All we 

 get in return is apparently the smell of new made, or making, hay. 

 But this is more than the smell of a dinner, which you know was 

 decided long ago to equal the jingling of money. This odor, the 

 aroma of new hay-making in the cock, is probably v^'orth more than 

 tlie weight of the lost substance. I believe it is the resvdt of expe- 

 rience, that all cattle eat hay, Avhich has given off its odor by 

 swealing in the cock or mow, better than that which has not under- 

 gone that process. Hence if artificial drying were practicable, it 

 would not be advisable. So a bright, hot sun, shining in an atmos- 

 phere* whose degree of moisture is for below saturation, rapidly 

 dries grass, without making it into hay. If this sun-dried grass is 

 cocked up, it rarely sweats and fills the air with its grateful fra- 

 grance. 



In all its relations, sugar is the most active cause of the loss of 

 weight and nutrition in hay-making. The amount of loss depends 

 on the amount of sugar and the activity of the fermentation. After 

 the alcoholic production has ceased, if the hay is damp, then the 

 alcohol is converted into various acids, as the ferment becomes 

 acid or alkaline. 



Very little loss is due to any change on starchy matter. It is 

 merely converted from an insoluble to a soluble state, from starch 

 to gum, probably without loss of nutritive power. 



Still less loss is due to gum-changes. Gum may become sugar 

 by the action of ferments ; but this change is not probable in hay- 

 making. The loss then would be consequent on the production of 

 alcohol. 



The loss of fat and wax, in connection with formation of alcohol, 

 has been alluded to. These escape volatile in part, and next to 

 sugar, are the most prolific sources of loss. But the fat and wax 



