i io THEORY OF FEEDING. 



than that in grass produced on soil poor in lime. Soil, climate 

 and manure are such important factors in the production of 

 fodder, that inferior varieties of grass, which are well nourished 

 without being coarse, are superior as a food for horses to the 

 best varieties that are starved or luxuriant. 



Harvesting. The mere drying of grass which is necessary 

 to render the resulting hay capable of being stored, in no way 

 affects the digestibility of the hay ; but the carrying out of 

 this process may be accompanied by changes which give 

 rise to more or less nutritive loss, and which should con- 

 sequently be kept in check as much as possible during 

 harvesting. 



The action of wet on grass and straw which have been cut, 

 is to more or less dissolve out the soluble nutritive constituents, 

 and to render the nitrogenous matter less digestible. " The 

 amount of depreciation which hay undergoes in a rainy harvest 

 is proved by the fact that 20 per cent, by weight of its dry 

 substance is lost by simply soaking in cold water. Stockhardt 

 examined two kinds of hay, both taken from the same meadow 

 and mown at the same time. One sample had been dried in 

 three days and was housed in its best condition ; the other had 

 been left lying in the fields in alternately wet and dry weather 

 for thirteen days before it could be gathered in. Analysis 

 proved that the hay which had been left in the rain had lost 

 12.5 per cent, by weight of the total dry substance, represent- 

 ing at least a quarter of its original nutritive value, since the 

 loss consisted entirely of the more easily soluble, and there- 

 fore especially valuable nutrients (2. 1 parts of albuminoids and 

 10.4 of non-nitrogenous nutrients and mineral salts). After 

 chemical examination in two instances, Marcker calculated the 

 loss of meadow hay through prolonged and heavy rain at 18.4 

 and 17.6 per cent, of the dry substance. The preparation of 

 clover hay in unfavourable weather is a frequent source of 

 deterioration, for this fodder suffers from rain even more than 



