104 Scientific Proceedings, Royal Dublin Society. 
buck-wheat, and maize, by Nobbe, and Siegert, Stohman, Wolfe 
and others. Pierre, too, has shown that the weakness sometimes 
observable in the stems of the cereals is not due to a deficiency of 
silica. 
In the case of the melic grass hay which forms the subject of 
this note, we have a whole crop produced naturally without silica, 
and with but a very minute amount of ash constituents. Although 
the hay is composed nearly altogether of grass not considered of 
any value by farmers, it is remarkable that its composition 
indicates a high degree of nutritive value. Indeed it appears to 
be quite as rich as meadow hay in all its common ingredients, 
except digestible non-nitrogenous matters. Its stems are, however, 
very coarse. 
With respect to the Hungarian method of preserving grass, it is 
doubtful whether or not the cost of digging the trenches would 
be more than equivalent to the advantage of having fresh 
grass for cattle during the winter. When the grass is taken out 
of the pit it may be spread out to dry, in the usual manner, or it 
may be given green to thecattle. By this system grass may be 
cut even in wet weather, and buried until a favourable time for 
hay-making arrives. 
