Oa the Manuring of Grass Land. 231 



third has not yet attained maturity. The only plan in such a 

 case is to learn the times when the several classes flower, and to 

 select that for mowing which agrees best with the proper season 

 of the largest number. I have compiled the following table as a 

 guide to determine this point, and it seems to indicate pretty 

 plainly that from the middle to the end of June (say from the 

 l5th to the 25th) is the best time to mow. Then, under ordi- 

 nary circumstances, the most grasses will be in the desired stage 

 of growth. Upon rich land where manure is applied early, 

 this readiness for the scythe will be some eight or ten days 

 earlier. 



I know how easy it is to doubt or deny, and how certainly 

 doubt, or denial, or both, will be the portion of him who asks 

 some small deviation from existing routine, even though that 

 deviation have no other object than the good of those whom he 

 addresses. I expect the counsel to manure early will be voted 

 a bore by most rule-of-thumb farmers, and by them be left to 

 perish of neglect. The thoughtful and observant alone will 

 receive the counsel as it is offered, and employ it for their advan- 

 tajje. I trust the following extract will be to the agricultural 



O o o 



conscience as the ghost of the murdered to the murderer. May 

 every spoilt haystack evoke the sprite each time its owner sees 

 it, until at length repentance induce amendment, and no ruined 

 hay remain to call up the tormentor ! 



" Analytical Reseaeches on Hat Tea, and on some of the alterations which 

 take place in Hay from Natural Meadows, when treated either with hot or 

 cold water. By M. Isidore Pierre. — Comjites liendus. Translated in ' The 

 Chemist,'' September, 1857. 



" Treatment of hay by displacement, without heat. 8450 grammes of hay 

 were put into a large displacement apparatus, and infused for twelve hours in 

 distilled water at a temperature of 68-* to 77° Fahr. The water was then 

 suffered to run off, and the hay was pressed. This treatment was repeated 

 several times, until the water came from the apparatus limpid and colourless. 



" By evaporation in vacuo, the water when united gave 1400 grammes of 

 extract, or 16*57 per cent, of the weight of the hay taken in the normal 

 state. After this operation the hay appeared much whiter than that which 

 had been operated upon by hot water [referring to a previous experiment, 

 which does not bear upon the injury done to hay by rain], and / can only 

 compare it to the effect jyroduced upon the outside of an uncovered haystack 

 after long rains, luithout having undergone any other aj'iparent damage than 

 this repeated washing in the open air. 



" Its nitrogen was reduced to 11"1 per cent. [It originally contained 13'9 

 grains of nitrogen per kilogramme.] 



" Under the influence of this treatment with cold water, the hay had lost in 

 the first place 3"5 grains of nitrogen per kilogramme, or 20 per cent., without 

 reckoning its loss of weight ; the combination of the two losses brings to 36'5 

 per cent, the diminution of the proportion of nitrogen originally contained in 

 the hay, 



" This enormous loss will give zis an idea of the kind of damage rvhich is 

 done to hay by the influence of rain alone, and that without its taking any un- 

 pleasant taste or contracting any had odour. 



