No. 4.] SALT MARSH HAY. 49 



where people would feed damaged ensilage and corn fodder, 

 and get good results ; still, I think most of us would prefer 

 not to use it. It reminds me of what a friend of mine said, 

 that he had always noticed that people who believed that 

 corn ought to be frostbitten before it was put in the silo 

 were people W'hose corn was frostljitten before harvesting. 



Mr. Evans. I have been sorry that, on a matter of such 

 great importance, after looking through our agricultural 

 literature, we could find but very little assistance in the 

 matter of feeding salt hay. I find that our State Board 

 reports and the reports of other meetings say nothing about 

 it. There has been somethins^ occasionallv about draininof 

 salt marshes, but they are silent upon this matter of feeding 

 salt hay. Now, as has been said here, it is a local matter, 

 and yet it is a matter of more importance than a great 

 many in this audience would believe. I find by the State 

 census of 1885 that in this Commonwealth there are over 

 23,000 acres of salt marsh, yielding hay every summer to 

 the value of $200,000. That is no small interest, and that 

 applies particularly to Barnstable and Essex counties. I 

 find that in Barnstable County there are four towns which 

 cut over 500 tons each. I find in Essex County there are 

 seven towns which cut over 500 tons each, and I find that the 

 town of New^bury leads the record of the Commonwealth by 

 cutting 3,500 tons annually. Now, that is no small crop to 

 consider, and it must aflect the agriculture of this section ; it 

 cannot be otherwise. We hear considerable about the tobacco 

 crop of this Commonwealth, and yet the salt hay, according 

 to the census of 1885, is almost one-half the magnitude of the 

 tobacco interest, and we consider that crop very important. 

 I was a little surprised to hear about the analysis which the 

 professor presented. I believe he said it was from the ex- 

 periment station of this State. 



Professor Whitcher. I ought to correct that by saying 

 the results of analyses in this State are averaged in the 

 figures I gave. The average of all analyses of salt hay, — 

 and that is a very indefinite term, — gave 4.75 per cent of 

 albuminoids, while black grass gave 6.75 per cent albumi- 

 noids. You see black orrass averajjes one-half again as high 

 in albuminoids as salt ha v. 



