136 THE GRASSES. 



about SO per cent. The dry part consists chiefly of 

 woody fibre: beside this, there are small and varia- 

 ble quantities of nitrogenous bodies — gum, sugar, oil, 

 etc. In some grasses, these amount to as much as 

 three, four, and five per cent. 



The time of cutting has much to do with the nutri- 

 tive value of hay. While the stems and leaves are 

 growing and green, they contain considerable quanti- 

 ties of sugar and gum, which, as they ripen, are, for 

 a large part, transformed into dry, indigestible, woody 

 fibre: the remainder goes into the seeds; but, as every 

 farmer knows, a great portion of these are lost from 

 the hay, before it is fed out. Thus, after the grass 

 has attained its full size and height, it loses by delay 

 in cutting, and becomes, as to its stem and leaves, of 

 poorer quality as it grows riper. 



The same occurs in the straw of grains, and in corn- 

 stalks. If they are cut from ten days to a fortnight 

 before the grain ripens, their quality for feeding is 

 greatly superior to what it would have been when 

 they were ripe. This, with the benefit to the quantity 

 and quality of grain before mentioned, constitutes a 

 double advantage to be gained by cutting early. 



We have thus briefly adverted to the general com- 

 position of the leading crops, and have shown the 

 principal points of difference. W^e have seen that 

 root crops produce the largest amount of nutritive 

 matter per acre; and that next to them comes indian 

 corn, then the other grains, and the oil-bearing seeds. 

 The next subject is the final disposal of these crops 

 in feeding. 



It may be of advantage here, to append a table to 

 this chapter, giving a comparative view of the more 

 common crops, as to their organic part: such a view 

 of the inorganic part has been already given, in 

 preceding tables. These analyses are not to be 

 considered as representing exactly the invariable 



