100 AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 



The above figures show that sugar, starch, and other compounds 

 that are inverted to sugar by the action of an acid, are found in 

 larger quantity in some fodders than in others, in proportion to the 

 total non- nitrogenous material, and moreover, that these carbohy- 

 drates whose value as nutrients is well established constitute the 

 most digestible part of the total nitrogen-free extractive matter. 

 These facts seem to explain in part why the bare statement of the 

 analysis of a fodder as given in fodder tables does not constitute a 

 definite measure of its value. 



SUMMARY. 



Some of the practical lessons to be drawn from the facts previ- 

 ously presented, are summarized below : 



(1) The upland grasses,* so far as analyzed, do not differ 

 greatly in composition. 



(2) The different species of upland grasses were found to differ 

 ver}' little from one another, and from Alsike clover, in digestibility. 

 The Blue Joint, in the one experiment made, had a low comparative 

 rate of digestibility. 



(3) While the total amount of dry substance digested out of 100 

 lbs. of the hay from the true grasses, such as Timothy, Witch 

 Grass, etc., and from Alsike clover, was very nearly the same in all 

 cases, the character of the material from the clover differed materi- 

 ally from that digested out of the grasses, being much more nitro- 

 genous, and therefore better adapted than the grasses to the nutri- 

 tion of an animal forming albuminoids rapidly, such as a milch cow 

 or a young growing animal. 



(4) The fodders proved to be quite unlike in the percentages of 

 sugar and starch which they contained, and which was digestible. 

 The cases observed so far are too few to allow general conclusions, 

 but there seems to be good reason for the assertion that the analyses 

 of our fodders would much more fully give a measure of nutritive 

 value if they showed what are the ingredients of the non-nitrogenous 

 portion of the plant. For instance, the White Weed has as 

 much non-nitrogenous material as the Timothy, (XLIV) 31 per 

 cent of this being sugar and starch in one case, and 52 per cent in 

 the other. Any analysis that stops short of showing these facts 

 fails to give data that is important in judging of nutritive value. 



♦The term grasses is used strictly in » botanical sense. The clever ar« not true grasses. 



