and in the Stack in Haymaking. 41 



Composition of Strougly-fermented Clover-hai/. 

 General Couipositk/n. 



Moisture 



Soluble organic matters 



Soluble mineral matters 



Insoluble organic substances 



Insoluble mineral substances • 



100-00 100-00 



Dctulhd CumjiosUion. 



Water • 38-02 



Fatty matters -90 .... 1-45 



* Soluble albuminous compounds .. .. 1-88 .... 3'03 



Gum, mucilage, brown extractive matters,) p..n m./^a 



'i ,.,,, ^ ' '> o-Go .... 10 G'J 



and a little sugar ) 



Digestible fibre 15-55 .... 25-09 



f Insoluble albuminous compounds .. .. 8-12 .... 13-11 



Indigestible woody fibre (cellulose) .. .. 22-33 .... 3G-03 



Soluble mineral matter 3-9G .... 6-39 



Insoluble mineral matter 2-Gl .... 4-21 



10000 100-00 



* Containing nitrogen '30 .... '48 



t Containing nitrogen I'SO .... 2-09 



Apart from the large excess of water, the high percentage of 

 indigestible woody fibre shows that this sample was of very 

 inferior quality, and that the excessive fermentation to which it 

 was subject in the rick destroyed much sugar as well as albumi- 

 nous compounds. Bad as this hay was, it was by no means at its 

 worst, for on further keeping in the stack it became reduced by 

 degrees to a dark brown mass which crumbled under the fingers 

 like snuff, and became only fit for the dunghill. 



It is well, therefore, to remember that highly-fermented hay, 

 which has passed through the acetous acid fermentation, on pro- 

 longed keeping in the rick undergoes a kind of slow combustion 

 or eremacausis, in consequence of which compounds like those 

 present in peat are formed, and much valuable feeding matter is 

 entirely resolved into gaseous products. 



It is to be regretted that we possess no precise data, showing 

 the actual loss in substance from a given weight of fresh grass. 

 To supply this deficiency I purpose to put up next season a 

 weighed quantity of well and badly made hay into a small rick 

 to ascertain from time to time the actual loss which the whole 

 rick sustains, and at the same time to determine by analysis, at 

 the time of the periodical weighing, of what the loss in weight 

 chiefly consists. 



3. — Loss on cutting Grass and Clover either too early or too late in 



the Season. 

 i Practical men are agreed that the best time to cut our hay- 



