46 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



albuminoids is lost. The beauty of the value of good grass 

 is, that the nutritious elements are in the right proportion ; it 

 is good food by itself; it asks nothing from any other crop, 

 and it has nothing to give to any other crop. But to get the 

 full benefit of Hungarian grass, it must be used with some 

 crop deficient in albuminoids. 



Dr. Sturtevant asks, "Whence the discrepancy of opinion 

 in the practical estimates?" I answer, because of the differ- 

 ent conditions under which it is grown, harvested and fed. 

 Some let it get quite ripe, — think it better so than green, — 

 and if it is to be fed by itself, it may be well to let it stand 

 longer than most crops, for, after it is ripe, it probably has 

 enough albuminoids to utilize all its carbo-hydrates ; but 

 there is a loss in letting it ripen, because a much larger per 

 cent, becomes indigestible. A better way is to cut it young, 

 and then feed it with something that needs what it has to 

 spare. 



One important and fundamental principle which underlies 

 the securing of good fodder, has been discovered and clearly 

 proved to be correct by the German experiments. It is this : 

 the younger any crop is cut, the greater its ratio of albu- 

 minoids, and the greater the per cent, of digestible to indi- 

 gestible matter. This shows us why it is that our cows give 

 us most milk in June, when the grass is growing fast enough 

 for them to fill themselves one day with what grew a few days 

 before. They always eat the youngest that is to be had, and 

 the younger the grass they eat, the more milk they will give. 

 I know Dr. Nichols, a chemist and practical farmer, and Dr. 

 Loring, a practical and scientific farmer, have taught the 

 reverse of this. 



Dr. Nichols, at the meeting of the State Board of Agri- 

 culture, at Fall River, said: "I find that corn-fodder, sown 

 broadcast, is perfectly worthless. I demonstrated that prac- 

 tically by experiments upon my herd of cows, and I demon- 

 strated it positively by an analysis of the plant. The results 

 of my observations and researches, up to the present time, 

 have been these: that in raising fodder-corn, we must allow 

 it to reach a certain point before we cut it. In the first place, 

 we must sow it in drills ; it must have access to sunlight and 

 air, and it must be allowed to proceed to a certain stage, — 



