282 EFFECTS OF IRRIGATION. 



results of some excellent experiments by Dr. A. Voelcker, 

 recorded in Jour. Boy. Ag. Soc., p. 377, 1866 : 



" A comparison of the composition of the improved hay with 

 that from the unimproved pastures offers several points of in- 

 terest. 



"The proportion of woody fiber in the good hay is much 

 reduced. 



"The amount of flesh forming material is considerably 

 increased. 



"The total amount of albuminous compounds is increased one- 

 fourth. 



"The difference in the proportion of sugar and other soluble 

 matters is very marked, the bad hay containing only 1 per cent, 

 the good hay nearly 15 per cent of sugar. 



" The proportion of fatty or waxy constituents likewise is 

 larger. 



" The increase in the soluble mineral matter shows that the 

 good hay is the more succulent." 



This subject is also considered in the section prepared by 

 Professor Armsby. 



Here we see, then, that arable land produces grasses of better 

 quality than marsh land, that rich land produces richer grasses 

 than poor land, and every farmer knows that grass grown in the 

 open meadow is more nutritious than that grown in the shade of 

 trees, that the. short growth in a dry season is more valuable per 

 ton than the rank growth in a wet season. 



Effects of Irrigation. The writer has had very little experi- 

 ence in irrigation, but briefly gives the opinions and results of 

 some cxperimentors, hoping thereby to set farmers to thinking, 

 observing, reading, and experimenting on this interesting sub- 

 ject. To conduct irrigation properly is quite an art, but it has 

 often been well done with surprising results, converting a lean, 

 hungry meadow into an oasis. Sinclair, in his famous old work 



