CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF FEEDING STUFFS 



59 



for the nutriment it supplies than is the case with dairy cows, 

 young stock, and sheep. 



The method of harvesting or preparation of feeding stuffs, 

 furthermore, affects their chemical composition and value. Dried 

 green grass and carefully cured hay have been found to have a 

 similar value as an equivalent of fresh green grass ; the only appre- 

 ciable difference in chemical composition comes from the water 

 content of the three materials. Under ordinary practical conditions,' 

 certain losses from leaves and tender stems in hay-making cannot, 

 however, be entirely avoided; these losses are especially important 

 in the case of leguminous crops, notably alfalfa. The leaves make 

 up about one-half of the weight of the alfalfa; plant, and carry 

 four-fifths of the crude protein, over one-half of the starchy com- 

 ponents, and only about one-fourth* of the fiber of the entire plant. 

 Headden, of the Colorado station, 9 concludes from his studies 

 of the alfalfa plant, "that the minimum loss from the falling of 

 leaves and stems in successful hay-making amounts to from 15 to 

 20 per cent, and, in cases where the conditions have been unfavorable, 

 to as much as 60 per cent or even 66 per cent of the dry crop. For 

 each 1700 pounds of hay taken off the field at 'least 300 pounds 

 of leaves and small stems are left, and in \ery bad cases as much as 

 1200 pounds may be left for each 800 pounds taken/' These are 

 lost for feeding purposes, but are returned to the soil, whose supply 

 of humus and valuable fertilizer ingredients they increase, and thus 

 improve its crop-producing power. 



When hay is exposed to rain or to sultry weather, important 

 losses occur through leaching and fermentations. The Colorado 

 station made analyses of samples of alfalfa hay exposed to rainy 

 and damp weather for 15 days after cutting, during which time 

 1.76 inches of rain, fell in three showers. Comparing the composi- 

 tion of this hay with that of hay from the same field cut the same 

 day but immediately dried in the laboratory, the results shown in 

 the following table were obtained: 



Percentage Composition of Dry Matter 



9 Colorado Bulletins 35 and 110. 



