182 GRASSES AND FORAGE PLANTS. 



these, with the nitrogenous compounds, then, also, most abun 

 dant, are of greatest value as furnishing the nutriment of ani- 

 mals, while woody fibre and mineral matter, though important 

 as giving bulk to the food, are insoluble and least nutritious. 

 We have seen, also, that in the transition from the flowering to 

 the ripening of the seed, the starch, sugar, &c., are gradually- 

 transformed into woody fibre, in which state they possess no'' 

 nutritive qualities, and are, of course, of little value. This 

 fact, which is perfectly well established by careful experiment 

 and accurate analysis, confirmed as already seen by intelligent 

 practice, is of great importance as indicating the condition in 

 which most of our cultivated grasses should be cut, and our 

 practice is pretty uniformly consistent with it. 



But there is another equally instructive suggestion in these 

 transforming processes, and it is this : If grass is cut in a con- 

 dition ever so succulent, and before the transition of sugar, &c., 

 into woody fibre has commenced, there will even then be some 

 loss of sugar and starch from the action of heat and moisture, 

 especially if the grass is exposed to the rain in the process of 

 curing, and lignifaction, or change to woody fibre takes place 

 to considerable extent, dependent, of course, on the length of 

 time it is exposed to air and light ; so that grass cured with the 

 least exposure to the searching, sifting winds, and the scorch- 

 ing sunshine, is, other things being equal, more nutritious than 

 grass cured slower and longer exposed, however fine the weather 

 may be. In other words, grass over-cured in the process of hay 

 making, contains more useless, woody fibre and less nutritive 

 qualities, than grass cured more hastily and housed before 

 being dried to a crisp. There can l)e no doubt which of the two 

 would be most palatable to the animal. Some loss of nutritive 

 elements must, therefore, take place in the process of curing, liow- 

 ever perfect it may be, and the true art of hay-making consists in 

 curing the grass just up to the point at which it will do to put 

 into the barn, and no more, in order to arrest the loss at the 

 earliest possible moment. And this fact of the loss of sugar 

 and starch, or of their transformation into woody fibre by too 

 long exposure to the sun and wind, I think equally well estab- 

 lished as that any transformation at all takes place, and as 

 equally suggestive. 



But on this point, far greater difference of opinion exists 



