36 



HATCH EXPERIMENT STATION. 



[Jan. 



millet, and the nitrogen-free extract matter correspondingly 

 less. The millet naturally develops relatively more woody 

 matter than the corn, and for this reason it is necessary to 

 cut the millet for feeding purposes while in ))lossom. If 

 allowed to grow until the seed is developed, the straw is 

 hard and woody, and quite unsatisfactory for feeding. Corn 

 fodder, the analysis of which is given above, is supposed to 

 be rather thickly seeded corn, with ears more or less devel- 

 oped, and probably cut late in August. It is an advantage 

 to allow the corn fodder when fed green to grow until it has 

 reached the above stage, for the reason that its digestibility 

 and palatability are not appreciably decreased, while the 

 nutritive value is considerably enhanced because of the ear 

 develoi)ment. The character also of the extract matter in 

 the two fodders is not the same, the corn having a consider- 

 able amount of the valuable starch, which is practically lack- 

 ing in the millet. The principal difference, then, from a 

 chemical stand-point, between these two plants, consists, in 

 case of the corn, in the extra percentage of nitrogen-free 

 extract matter containing considerable quantities of starch, 

 and the smaller percentage of the less valua])le woody fibre. 

 The protein percentage is about the same. The millet 

 shows relatively rather more ash than the corn. This may 

 be due to the fact that it is cut at an earlier stage in its 

 growth. From the comparative chemical analysis of the 

 two plants, as given above, one Avould naturally expect a 

 greater nutritive effect from the corn than from the millet. 



Composition of the Ash {Dry Matter), 

 Only two analyses of the ash of the millet are on record. 

 One of them was made a numl)cr of years ago, and is 

 very incomplete ; the other represents a recent analysis of 

 sample (d) : — 



* From Wolff tables, given for comparison; exact stage of growth unknown. 



