SECRETARY'S REPORT. • 59 



We arc thus naturally led back to the original woody filire, 

 or hay, and thence springs up the natural query, if grass is the 

 best nunuirc for grass lauds, why not use that substance directly 

 as a manure ? The answer is simply this : If we do, our cattle 

 must starve ; and, if wo carry the same princijdc through all 

 our crops, we must also starve. Nature has not formed her 

 plans in a way to render such a course necessary. If such liad 

 been the case — if no vegetation could have occurred in kind 

 and amount, except through the decay of the same amount of 

 previous vegetation, animal life would have been an impossi- 

 bility, and the amount of vegetable matter at the time of the 

 original creation would have been the limit ever after. 



It is a pretty generally acknowledged fact, that if all the hay 

 which grows upon a given piece of land be fed to an animal, 

 and the manurial product saved and applied to the land again, 

 the latter will thereby acquire the capacity to produce an 

 increased crop, notwithstanding much of the substance of the 

 hay shall be appropriated by the animal which does not appear 

 to find its way back to the soil. This apparent loss is less real, 

 however, than at first sight appears. Of the matters derived 

 from the hay which go to nourish the animal, starch, gum and 

 sugar, are composed of the same elements as woody fibre, in 

 slightly different proportions ; so that the loss here is only one 

 of quantity. In the composition of albumen, and other sub- 

 stances of this class, we find a new element, called nitrogen. 

 This is an indispensable element in animal and nearly if not all 

 vegetable structure, but not found in woody fibre. What 

 becomes of it ? It is taken into the circulation of the animal, 

 and enters into the structure of most parts of the body, with 

 the notable exception of the fat. Let us trace it a little farther. 

 Nearly all the secretions contain it. It is found in milk. If 

 milk is sold from the farm, so much of it is lost. If cheese is 

 disposed of, this carries it off. If butter is the product, then 

 the nitrogen is left in the skim-milk. This skim-milk goes to 

 feed swine. It enters their system and is appropriated in build- 

 ing up their structure. If the resulting pork is consumed on 

 the farm, there is no loss, but if otherwise disposed of, it is 

 parted with. 



Besides the secretion of milk there is that of the urine. Tliis 

 docs not leave the farm except through the negligence of tlie 



