THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



amount. Way found that in the state the grass 

 was cut {Jour. Roy. Agri. Soc, vol. xiv. p. l7l) the 

 per-centage of water ranged from about 51.85 in 

 the common quaking grass to 82.14 in the Trifolium 

 incarnatum, and 87.58 in the grass of the first cut- 

 ting of a water meadow. This last was the most 

 watery specimen he examined ; even the common 

 vetch contained only 82.90, and the red clover 

 but Sl'Ol percent.; and it is noticeable that the 

 water-meadow grass of the second cutting only 

 contained 74.58 per cent, of water. This result 

 seems to be in accordance with the practice of 

 the holders of the extensive and very productive 

 Hampshire and Wiltshire water mead«, who always 

 feed the first crop, and make hay of the suc- 

 ceeding. It does not, however, render more intel- 

 ligible the fact that the second grass crop of irrigated 

 meads rots the sheep depastured on it, whilst the 

 more watery Jirst crop does not induce that disease. 



In speaking of the amount of water in the dif- 

 ferent grasses, the reader must not suppose that by 

 conversion into hay all that water is removed ; for 

 however dry grasses may be in appearance, yet still 

 a large proportion of water remains, without indeed 

 they have been subjected to artificial heat — and 

 even when the grass has been dried in a tempera- 

 ture of 212 degs., by exposure to the air it again 

 absorbs about 16 per cent, of water, and this is 

 about the amount of moisture remaining in the best- 

 made hay. 



When we examine the albuminous or flesh- 

 forming qualities of the hay-producing grasses, we 

 find their varying composition pretty well in accord- 

 ance with the popular value assigned to the hay 

 prepared from them. Thus, the sweet-scented 

 vernal grass yielded only 2.05 per cent, of albu- 

 minous matter; the Trifolium incarnatum but 

 2.96. The produce rises to 4.06 per cent, in the 

 cock's-foot grass, to 4.27 in red clover, to 4.32 in 

 sainfoin, and to 4.86 in the meadow cat's-tail. 



Of the Aeflf-producing substances, such as starch, 

 gum, &c,, the proportion present in different grasses 

 varies still more widely. Way found only 0.33 

 per cent, in the upright brome-grass, 8.45 in red 

 clover, 14.11 in Italian rye-grass, and 22.85 in the 

 meadow cat's-tail; in the water-meadow grass of 

 the first crop only 3.98, but in that of the second 

 crop 11.17 per cent. The superior warmth-pro- 

 ducing properties of the second crop does not 

 therefore seem to give us any assistance in our 

 endeavours to account for its rotting properties. 



The earthy matters or ash of the different 

 common pasture-grasses varies considerably in 

 amount. The meadow fox-tail yielded 1.55 per 

 cenl., the sweet-scented vernal 1.24, the cock's-foot 

 1.59, red clover 1.85, and lucerne 3.04. In this 

 ash is contained varying, yet considerable, propor- 



tions of phosphoric acid. Thus, 100 parts of the 

 ash of the meadow fox-tail vielded 6.25 per cent, of 

 phosphoric acid, the sweet-scented vernal 10.09, the 

 cock's-foot 8.60, red clover 6.71, and lucerne 5.96. 

 In the ashes of some grasses the amount of silica 

 is very considerable : those of the meadow fox-tail 

 yielded 38.75 per cent, of this earth, the cock's-foot 

 26.65, and the annual rye-grass 41.79, Lucerne, 

 however, only contained 5.9, and red clover only 

 0.59 per cent. 



If such are the constituents of the grasses from 

 whence our hay is made, it is obvious that the great 

 object of hay-making is to preserve the hay for 

 winter use in the condition the most resembling the 

 grass when in its highest state of perfection. To 

 attain this result it would seem that we have only 

 to guard against the injurious effects of rain and 

 dews, and of too great a degree of fermentation. 

 In the experiments of Dr, T. Thomson and Dr. R, 

 Thomson they determined that 100 parts of hay 

 should be equivalent in its nutritive properties to 

 387 parts of grass. This amount of grass they 

 concluded should contain of matter soluble in hot 

 water 28,13 parts, and in cold water 8.21 parts; 

 but instead of this amount they reported, " We find 

 that the equivalent quantity of hay, or 100 parts, 

 only contains 16 parts instead of 13 parts soluble 

 in hot water, and 5.06 parts instead of 8.21 parts 

 soluble in cold water." A very large proportion of 

 the soluble matter of the grass obviously, therefore, 

 disappeared in its conversion into hay. The result 

 of the hay-making in this particular instance has 

 therefore been to approximate the soft, juicy, and 

 tender grass to woody fibre, by either washing out 

 or decomposing its sugar and other soluble con- 

 stituents. These facts enable us to explain why 

 cattle consume a larger amount of hay than is 

 equivalent to the relative amount of grass : thus, 

 animals which can subsist upon 100 lbs. of grass, 

 should be able to retain the same condition by the 

 use of 25 lbs. of hay, if the latter sufl^ered no 

 deterioration in drying. Our experiments, however, 

 show that a cow thriving on 100 lbs. to 120 lbs. of 

 grass required 25 lbs. of hay and 9 lbs. of barley or 

 malt to sustain her in equal condition. 



One great cause of the deterioration of hay is the 

 water which may be present, either from the incom- 

 plete removal of the natural amount in the grass by 

 drying, or by its absorption from the atmosphere. 

 Water, when existing in hay from either of these 

 sources, will induce fermentation, a process by 

 which one of the most important constituents of the 

 grass — namely, sugar— will be destroyed. 



In glancing at the various modes of hay-making 

 practised in different parts of England, we shall 

 notice that in the best hay-making districts the 

 objects which the labours of the chemist have so 



