120 



GRASSES AND FORAGE PLANTS. 



and the other only 8.45 per cent. Of waste and useless matter 

 in the shape of woody fibre, Timothy contains the largest per 

 cent., while the larger quantity of mineral matter shows it also 

 to be a greater exhauster of the sojl. The most valuable prac- 

 tical deductions of a similar nature may be made by comparing 

 these tables. 



Table VIII. Analysis of Ariificial Grasses, 

 taken from thefcid). 



(100 parts, as 



It will be seen in table IX. that in the case of orchard grass 

 and the irrigated meadow, the seeds were ripened, and they 

 should not, therefore, be compared with other grasses taken in 

 the blossom, without considering this fact. It will be seen, too, 

 that the specimens analyzed were in the dry state, much drier 

 than they could be made by the ordinary process of hny making ; 

 for however perfectly the hay is cured it will still contain a very 

 considerable percentage of water, and if artificially dried, as in 

 the trials given above, and then exposed to the air, it will absorb 

 from 10 to 15 per cent, of water, showing that no hay is abso- 

 lutely dry by any ordinary processes. In England, the percent- 

 age of water in well made hay is about 16, and hay artificially 

 dried Avill absorb that amount if exposed again to the air. I 

 do not think the percentage here would be so large, for obvious 

 reasons. In the analysis of the hay of the reed canary grass, 



