THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



473 



acre cut fir&t, i. e. n monili before the ripe, and 

 which corresponds with sample No. 1, we gel 

 568 rt 



= ihe number of grains of ihe green in 



19.75 

 the measure nt; 

 19.75 VI 



whence = the space occupied by one 



5G8 71 

 (Tain of green. 



22.75 7/1 



But (^v'uh above,) = spnce, by one grain 



570 71 

 of the ripe ; 



22.75 w 19.75 



whence : : : 30 bushels : 26.1356 



570 71 568 71 

 bushels, the pro:luce oC the acre cut a month be- 

 fore the ripe. And {vide "Table of relative 

 weights," &c., paire 27.) 



1 : If : : 160 stones : 195? elones of straw, 

 the produce ol' the same ; wht^nce we have 



26.1356 bushels of wheat, at 

 61s. per quarter, - - - - £9 19 3^ 



195| stones of straw, at 2il. 

 per stone, - - - - - 112 7 



£11 11 lOi 



The total products of the three acres stand thus : 



No. 3, Reaped when ripe, . £12 17 3| 

 No. 2, do. a (brtnight earlier, . 13 7 3^ 

 No. 1, do. a month before the ripe, 11 11 10| 



Showing a loss of £l : 5 : 5, or about 10 percent., 

 by cutting very green ; and a gain nf 10s. per acre, 

 or nearly 4 per cent., by reaping in a raw state, or 

 a fnrtniirht before it was ripe. 



From the above details, it would appear that it 

 is the farmer's interest to cut his wheat before it 

 becomes ihorouahly ripe. Many, no doubt, will 

 be dispo.«od to doubt deductions of such importHrice 

 drawn Irom such limited experiments. This 

 objection the writer anticipates, because it is a 

 natural one, which he felt himself, when he con- 

 sidered the most important conclusions which 

 resulted ; when, however, he retraced, step by step, 

 hia invssligatinns, without any variation in that 

 result, he could no longer refuse to believe it true 

 till he proved it untrue. He is aware that there 

 are other points of consideration in this subject — 

 thai there are f)eculiarities in the nature of land, 

 of seed or of season, and that there is, as in all 

 man's investigations, a possibility of error ; anv 

 of which circumstances miifht materially aflec; 

 the result of experiments upon so limited a scale 

 as the present one ; and for this leasori he will, if 

 all be well, give the subject a iri»l in the ensu- 

 ing harvest, on a much more comprehensive scale, 

 Tliat the results of these experiments will be 

 corroborative in the main points, he has no doubt, 

 and for this cause he feels no hesitation in layiiiL' 

 the preceding " details" before the agricultural 

 world ; moreover, as he has in no case given a 

 deduction without the grounds upon which it rest- 

 ed, the degree of" acceptation" which the reader 

 may give it rests with himself The most scepti- 

 cal, he however flatters himself, will think it 

 " worthy" ol being tested, if of nothing more. 



In testing, however, the conclusion which the 

 foregoing experiments warrant, there are some 

 other advantages which strcDgthen that conclu- 

 VoL. IX,— 43 



sion, which must not be foriroiien. That ihey 

 have not been con>iidered in the preceding pages, 

 i.^ not because they are of no import, l)ut, on the 

 contrary, because .they are of such consefpjence 

 that Ihe writer could not assign them nii adequate 

 momentary value. And had he attempted to do 

 ^0, lie would have at once made ih>' details of 

 his experiments valueless, by mixing the real 

 results of practice with the imaginary ones of 

 opinion. Before the subject, liowever. can be 

 thoroughly sifted, they must be considered. The 

 circumstances are the.-^e :— independently of the 4 

 per cent, gain (according to the foregoing experi- 

 inentf-) by reaping our wheat afbrinight before it 

 is ripe, we have 



1st, Straw of a belter quality. 



2d, A better chance of securing the crop ; and, 



3cZ. A saving in securing it. 



\st, ''Straw ofa beitpr(]uality." This iseasilyde- 

 monstraiedbolh lor the purpose of food and manure. 



As an article of food the value of any vegeta- 

 ble depends upon the gross quantity, or upon the 

 combination of certain substances termed soluble, 

 from their entering into union with water. This 

 rule applies particularly to the grasses which are 

 used for the purpose of feeding stock.* The 

 substances generally found in these grasses are 

 saccharine matter or sugar, mucilage or starch, 

 and gluten or albumen, and bitter extract and 

 saMne matters. Of th' se the cugar is no doubt, 

 the most, and the extractive nsatter the least, 

 nutritive; the latter having been found, by experi- 

 ment, to come away in the dung of the animal 

 consuming it. while the o her matters were absorb- 

 ed by the body. 



Now wheat is a species of grass, and the value 

 of the straw, as an article of food, depend-j upon 

 the quantity of nutritive matter contained in it. 

 "Thisnuiriiive matter must be very small in straw, 

 as now generally used," the practical farmer will 

 say, " for straw per se is but poor food, and scarce- 

 ly able to sustain lile." This is true; fmm 400 

 grains o\' dry barley straw," says Sir H. Davy, 

 "[ obtained 8 grains of matter soluble in water, 

 which had a brown color, and tasted like muci- 

 lage. From 400 grains of wheaten straw, I ob- 

 tained 5 grains ol a similar suhsiance." With 

 this paticity of nutritive matter in the straw before 

 us, how can we account tor the fact that, in the 

 sap of wheat, the straw, and in all succulent 

 plants, there is naturally a great proportion of 

 mvcilaginous and saccharine viatter ?t The an- 

 swer is this. In all gras.ses and succulent plants, 

 the greatest proportioti of this i<; present before 

 the flower is dead ripe.J So in ivheat, when we 

 allow the straw to remain till thoroughly ripe, a 

 portion of the sugar is converted by the action of 



* " Tfie mode of determininsj the nutritive power 

 of grasses by the quantity of matter tfiey contain 

 soluble in water, is siifTH-iently accurate for all the 

 purposes of agricultural investigation." Sir Humphry 

 Davy in his " Account of the Results of Experi- 

 ments on the produce and nutritive qualities of differ- 

 ent grasses and other plants, instituted by John, Duke 

 of Bedford." 



t " The fluids contained in the sap-vessels of wheat 

 and barley afforded, in souie experiments which 1 

 made on them, mucilage, sugar, and a matter which 

 coagulated by heat." Sir H.Davy. Agricul. Chem. 142. 



t Vide Agricul. Chem, Sec. 6, p. 264. 



