374 



Effect of Gardening on the Rural Population. Vol. XII. 



s induced by the presjfce of the albuminous 

 matter of the grass; the elements of the su- 

 gar are made to react on each other in the 

 moist state in which they exist, in conse- 

 quence of the presence of the water and oil, 

 and are converted into alcohol and carbonic 

 acid, according to the following formula: 



That alcohol is produced in a heated hay- 

 stack in many cases, may be detected by the 

 similarity of the odor disengaged to that per- 

 ceptible in a brewery. We use this com- 

 parison because it has been more than once 

 suggested to us by agriculturists. The quan- 

 tity of water or volatile matter capable of 

 being removed from hay at the temperature 

 of boiling water, varies considerably. The 

 amount of variation during the present e.x- 

 periments was from twenty to fourteen per 

 cent. If the lower per centage could be at- 

 tained at once, by simple drying in the sun, 

 the process of hay making would probably 

 admit of but little improvement; but the 

 best new made hay that we have examined 

 contained more than this amount of water; 

 the numbers obtained verging towards twen- 

 ty per cent. When it contains as much as 

 this it is very liable to ferment, especially if 

 it should happen to be moistened by any ac- 

 cidental approach of water. The only me- 

 thod which we have found to succeed in pre- 

 serving grass perfectly entire, is by drying 

 it by means of artificial heat. Rye grass 

 contains, at an early period of its growth, as 

 much as eighty-one per cent, of water, the 

 whole of which may be removed by subject- 

 ing the grass to a temperature considerably 

 under that of boiling water; but even with 

 a heat of 120° the greater portion of the 

 water is removed, and the grass still retains 

 its green colour, a character which appears 

 greatly to add to the relish with which cattle 

 consume this kind of provender. When this 

 dried grass, — as it may be truly termed by 

 way of distinction from hay, — is examined, 

 it will be found to consist of a series of tubes, 

 which, if placed in water, will be filled with 

 the fluid, and assume in some measure the 

 aspect of its original condition. In this form 

 cattle will eat it with relish, and prefer it to 

 hay, which in comparison is blanched, dry 

 and sapless. The advantages obtained by 

 this method of making hay, or rather of pre- 

 serving grass in a dry state are sufficiently 

 obvious. By this means all the constituents 

 of the grass are retained in a state of inte- 

 grity; the sugar, by the absence of water, is 

 protected from undergoing decomposition ; 

 the colouring matter of the grass is compa- 



ratively little affected, while the soluble 

 salts are not exposed to the risk of being 

 washed out by the rains, as in the common 

 process of hay making. The amount of so- 

 luble matter capable of being taken up by 

 cold water, is according to the preceding 

 trials, as much as five per cent., or a third 

 of the whole soluble matter in hay. We 

 may, therefore, form some notion of the in- 

 jury liable to be produced by every shower 

 of rain which drenches the fields during hay 

 harvest. It is not only, however, the loss 

 which it sustains in regard to the sugar and 

 soluble salts, that renders hay so much less 

 acceptable than grass to the appetite of cat- 

 tle. The bleaching which it undergoes in 

 the sun, deprives it of the only peculiarity 

 which distinguishes the one form of fodder 

 from the other; grass deprived of its green 

 colouring matter presents exactly the ap- 

 pearance of straw, so that hay ought to be 

 termed grass straw. It is obvious, from the 

 experiments detailed, that the operation of 

 hay making, as conducted in this country, 

 has a tendency to remove a great proportion 

 of the wax in the grass. Tlius it was found 

 that rye grass contained 2.01 per cent, of 

 wax. Now, as 387^ parts of rye grass are 

 equivalent to 100 parts of hay, and as 387^ 

 parts of grass contain 7.78 parts of wax, it 

 is obvious that 100 parts of hay should con- 

 tain the same amount of wax; but by expe- 

 riment it was found that two hundred grains 

 of hay contained four grains of wax, which 

 is equivalent to two per cent., almost exactly 

 the amount contained in grass. Hence it 

 appears that no less than 5.78 grains of wax 

 have disappeared during the hay making 

 process. The whitening process which the 

 O^rass undergoes in drying, renders it appa- 

 rent that the green colouring matter has un- 

 lergone change; but that it should have been 

 actually removed to such an extent, or at 

 least have become insoluble in ether, is a 

 result which could scarcely have been anti- 

 cipated without actual experiment. — Dr. 

 Thomson on Food. 



Effect of Gardening on the Rural Popu- 

 lation. 



The good effects of Cottage Gardening is 

 already universally acknowledged. The 

 emulation excited by exhibiting their pro- 

 ductions at flower shows, has been doubled, 

 not in all cases, but in many. It will be ad- 

 mitted that the temptation to labour cannot 

 be too great, and to the excitement of this 

 feeling ought all public exhibitions to tend. 

 Many societies, with the best intentions, 

 have, nevertheless, done a good deal of mis- 

 chief. They have given prizes for flowers 



