38 The Grasses. [Jan., 



proportion of that part of their food which is insoluble in water. 

 Even the woody fibre of the hay is not entirely useless as an ar- 

 ticle of nourishment; experiment having shown that manure often 

 contains less of this insoluble matter than was present in the food 

 consumed. (Sjyrengel.) 



3d. That some of the substances w^hich are of the greatest im- 

 portance in the nutrition of animals, such as vegetable fibrin, al- 

 bumen, casern, and legumin, are either wholly insoluble in -water 

 or are more or less perfectly coagulated, and rendered insoluble 

 by boiling with water. Mr. Sinclair must have therefore left be- 

 hind among the insoluble parts of his hay the great proportion of 

 these nnportant substances. Hence the nature and weight of the 

 dry extracts he obtained, could not fairly represent either the kind 

 or quantity of the nutritive matters which the hay was likely to 

 yield, when introduced into the stomach of the animal." 



For the above reasons given by Johnston, he did not consider 

 it necessary to dwell upon the results of the experiments of Sin- 

 clair, and we are of the same opinion. The reader will find a 

 detailed account of these experiments in the third volume of the 

 Cultivator, and in the American Farmers'' Encyclopedia. 



A good method of determining the relative value of the differ- 

 ent grasses, would be to take an equal number of animals of the 

 same age and as nearly as possible of the same condition, weigh 

 them, tfien let them be kept a certain period on an equal quantity 

 (determined by weight,) of any two grasses, either in a green or 

 dried state — the two grasses to be grown on land of the same 

 quality and manner of cultivation. At the end of the period, 

 weigh the animals again, and this will show nearly the relative 

 value of the two grasses on that particular soil, and for those 

 animals. A similar experiment might be tried upon pasture — 

 all that would be necessary would be to see that the grass of the 

 diflferent pastures was of equal condition as to ripeness and abun- 

 dance, with a soil of the same quality. 



We cannot confidently recommend many European grasses for 

 cultivation, since few of them have received a fair trial in this 

 country, but there are many native grasses well adapted to our 

 climate and soil, indigenous in every portion of the United States. 

 Nature has spread the different species with a lavish hand both 

 at the south and north. A reference to the botanical works cited 

 before will show, that there is no lack of species in any one re- 

 gion, and surely among so many there must be some well worthy 

 of cultivation. Time will determine- Our task will be to try 

 and make them better known. 



Phleum prateme, (timothy, herds grass of New England and 

 cats-tail grass of England,) in the northern and middle states is 

 cultivated more than any other grass. It is so well known that 



