MAKING HAY. 291 



sidered. Kowen is more liable to injury from wet than coaaser 

 hay. It may often be cheaper to get one large crop of hay, even 

 of poorer quality, and supplement it with concentrated fodders. 



" The only direct feeding trials that have been made on this 

 point, so far as I know, are those made by Professor Sanborn, of 

 Missouri. So far as they go they indicate that the value of early- 

 cut hay may have been over-rated. 



" Legumes. The legumes are characterized by the large pro- 

 portion of protein contained in the plant as a whole, and in the 

 seeds. As fodders, when properly cut and cured, they are very 

 rich, but have the disadvantage of being rather bulky, and of 

 being easily subject to deterioration by mechanical losses. As a 

 general rule clover is richer in nitrogenous matters than grass, 

 Compared with meadow hay, which is made from the true 

 grasses, its protein is about equally digestible, its crude fibre de- 

 cidedly less digestible." 



In trying to decide which is the proper stage of growth for 

 cutting grass for hay we should not forget that a late growth of 

 the plants nearly to seeding impairs their strength. In case of 

 red clover, it greatly interferes with the crop of seed which is 

 obtained from the second cutting. 



The following on this question is by Prof. W. H. Jordan, 

 taken from the Philadelphia Press : 



"What if sorghum does have more saccharose and less glucose 

 when the seeds are formed or are ripe? Is it more nutritious? 

 We have no reason for thinking so. Starch and the various 

 sugars and other carbohydrates have just the same office, and, so 

 far as we can judge, nearly the same value in animal nutrition, 

 so how does a change from glucose to saccharose, or from starch 

 to sugar, very materially affect the nutritive value of a plant? 

 In the processes of digestion starch is changed to glucose, and in 

 that form passes into the blood. Sugar in the blood requires 

 somewhat less work for its preparation for use by the animal 



