321 



Nutrients in Green Shoots of Trees. 



By E. J. Petry. 



The foods of ])ro\vsin.!j; animals, both wild and domestic, have doubt- 

 less engaged the interest of many observers. 



Especially, sheep and goats consume much of the succulent leafage 

 of the second growths of forest trees, while the undergrowths of foi'est 

 seedlings never survive the visitations of these animals, unless the species 

 have particularly obnoxious flavors or principles. 



In order to learn the comparative nutritive values in the succulent 

 l>arts of some of these plants, the writer made numerous chemical analy- 

 ses,^ the results of which are given in Tables I and II. 



The samples were collected between ]May .3d and 17th of a very "back- 

 ward" season; the data therefore apply only to the first crop of shoots 

 in the spring. Subsequent crops of shoots would doubtless vary within 

 wide limits, dependent on moisture and other conditions. Tlie materia! 

 was collected early in the forenoon, tlie hour depending on the disappear- 

 ance of the dew on the leaves, and only material of a certain "hardness" 

 v.'as taken. This "hardness" or shearing quality was taken as nearly 

 uniformly for all samples as was possible. 



Branches were cut and enclosed in an airtight case. These were 

 immediately carried to the balance, where only the succulent shoots, 1. e.. 

 new growth, was removed, and 20() gram samples were weighed out im- 

 mediately. Tliey were then placed in the sun to dry. By calculating the 

 per cent, moisture of Table I to the moist sample and subtracting from the 

 moisture as given in Table II, one may find the amount of water lost by 

 drying in the sun. It will be seen that they vary from 05.9% to 81.45% 

 in the amount of water driven off by air-drying in the sun. The time 

 consumed in drying varied from two to five days, tliey being considered 

 rdr-dry as soon as they would grind well in a drug mill. This mill was 

 thoroughly cleaned after grinding each sample. The ground sample was 

 inune'diately put into a bottle and tightly stoppered. 



1 Abstract from thesi.s, Ohio State University. 

 [21—29034] 



