504 AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 



given by the different chemical authorities, as shown in the 

 table, are very striking. 



Those in the water and vegetable fibre, divisions 2 and 3, 

 may probably have arisen from actual differences in the dry- 

 ness of the articles analyzed, or in the amount of their exterior 

 coating, as might very naturally occur in several of the grains. 



Those found in the percentage of oily matter, division 4, may 

 perhaps be accounted for by supposing the analysts to have ex- 

 perimented upon different varieties of the same crop ; thus, to 

 take Corn as an example, it is perfectly comprehensible how 

 neither Liebig nor any other chemist could find even five per 

 cent, of oily matter in our light flour Corns, which seem to re- 

 semble Buckwheat in their character, while Dumas and others 

 might readily obtain nine or ten per cent, from a strong north- 

 ern yellow Flint Corn. 



This division properly belongs with No. 5, the elements in 

 both being carbonaceous, but I have given the oily matter a 

 separate division, because, as the ready-formed fat in food is 

 most easily appropriated, and, withal, renders important aid in 

 digestion, the amount of this material found in a given crop 

 affords a measurable test of its relative value in the fattening 

 of animals. 



The differences found in the percentages of the other car- 

 bonaceous and the nitrogenous elements, divisions 5 and 6, 

 may be due, in part, to the same cause as those of the oily 

 matter, but probably still more to differences of character and 

 quality, independent of variety of stock, arising from differ- 

 ences in the feeding and culture of the particular crops from 

 which the specimens were derived. The manure from a barn- 

 yard that is very thoroughly leached into the neighboring 

 brook will not have much material to give stamina and rich- 

 ness to the crop to which it is applied ; and if, in addition to 

 this, the season's culture be slighted, a crop relatively rich in 

 vegetable fibre, and poor in the more important constituents, 

 may be reasonably expected. * 



The variations in the percentages of saline or inorganic el- 

 ements, division 7, may be traced to the same or analogous 

 causes. It is well settled that plants, like animals, feed not 



