60 Experiment Station Report. 



hausted lands, renders many of our current tabular state- 

 ments of the chemical composition of the more prominent 

 articles of fodder of doubtful merit in the hands of the far- 

 mer, who considers them an unfailing guide in his special 

 case. 



The majority of these fodder tables may be traced to one 

 source (E. Wolff). They state the mean of a smaller or 

 larger number of analyses, quite frequently made without 

 any intention to ascertain the possible variations in the com- 

 position of the article under investigation. The analytical 

 statements themselves refer in the majority of cases to plants 

 raised in Germany, and in other European countries. Whilst 

 the great value of these Tables from an agricultural educa- 

 tional standpoint must be conceded, their analytical state- 

 ments require qualification before they may be safely relied 

 on in home practice. The Annual Report of the Secretary 

 of the Massachusetts State Board of Agriculture for 1882, 

 pages 104-114, contains a tabular statement of the composi- 

 tion of many fodder crops, giving the extremes (highest 

 and lowest percentages found), with reference to each group 

 of nutritive constituents. (Julius Kiihn.) 



This mode of stating the composition of the various farm 

 crops tends to direct the attention more decidedly towards 

 the advantages arising from a proper cultivation of fodder 

 crops. 



The Experiment Station has entered upon a systematic 

 course of investigation to assist in determining the influence 

 of stage of growth and of cultivation on the feeding value 

 of some of our prominent forage plants. 



The chemical analysis of any article of fodder begins usu- 

 ally with the determination of its moisture, and of the amount 

 of dri/ matter left behind when heated to a temperature not 

 exceeding 110° C, or 230° F., until a constant weight is 

 obtained. The proximate constituents of the dry matter are 

 subsequently reported with reference to the special relation 

 they bear towards the support of animial life. Liebig's classi- 

 fication of the constituents of a complete animal food into 

 three distinct nutritive groups of compounds, namely, nitro- 

 gen containing organic substances (^nitrogenous substances, 

 crude protein), non-nitrogenous, containing organic sub- 



