121 



■ ■ ^ ' 



By boiling equal weights of the nutritive matter of the leaves of the following grasses " 



klinl till tnp r>n!miT»ir»rv wio+r^^ ,,, i •. i* i i » « o o 



afterwards 



^ J o ^ "-^•"^x >¥a,j uo aujjiuicxmp^ tile in. 



soluble parts to the action of cold, and of boiling water, and collecting and weighing the sohd 

 matters after evaporation, the results were as follows : 

 100 grains of nutritive matter consisted of, 



4, 



Mucilage, or Starch. Sacchariae Matter, Gluten. Bitter Extractive and 



or Sugar. ay ^^ 



Alopecurus pratensis, (meadow-foxtail) - 64 - 8 - __ aaune Matters. 



Festuca pralensis, (meadow-fescue) ^ ^ S9 - 20 



Foa trlvialis, (rough-stalked meadow-grass) - 82-8 



Lolium pcreiine, (rye-grass) - - 65 - 7 



Foa nervata, (nerved meadow-grass) - 83 - 8 



^ 



Fhleum prate7ise, (meadow cat*s-tail) - 74 - 10 



Dactylis glomerata, (cock*s-foot) - -69 - 11 



Avena praieiisis, (meadow-oat) - - - so - 10 



Hordeum pratense, (meadow-barley) - - 08 - 8 



Holcus mollis, (creeping soft-grass) - 70 - 6 

 ^Agrostis stolonifera, var. latifolia, (broad-leaved, 

 or florin) - - _ _ 



55 - 5 



28 

 20 

 10 



28 



9 



16 



30 

 10 



34 



24 insoluble. 



40 



White Clover, when in flower, according to Sir 



H. Davy - - - , ^ '^^ " ^ - 7 - 14 



Red Clover, ditto " " - 79 



Vicia, var. satka^ (tares) - ' - - 68 - . 25 



Trifolium officinalis, (melilot clover) - 53 - 4 



r ■ 



Trifolium macrorhizuin, (long-rooted clover) - 64 - 14 



8 - 5 - 8 



7 



42 



22 



The bitter extractive and saline matters are considered as assisting or modifying the func- 

 tions of digestion, rather than being truly nutritive parts of the compound. The experiments 

 detailed in the Introduction, shewed that the mucilage, starch, gluten, and sugar, were retained 

 in the body of the animal for the purposes of life, and that the bitter extractive and saline mat- 

 ters were voided with the woody fibre, which, combined, constituted the excrements, or those 

 parts of the vegetable not retained in the body of the animal for the purposes of life. 



Tares, and White Clover, are very succulent plants, and their fattening powers are well 

 known ; but when cultivated singly, or without admixture of any other plants, there are several 

 instances that have come under my own observation, where they have been, in cold moist wea- 

 ther m the early part of the spring, productive of the diseases termed red-water, and diarrhoea or 

 looseness; the former in sheep fed on White Clover, and the latter in cattle fed on Tares. In 

 estimatmg, therefore, the comparative nutritive powers of these different proportions of vege- 

 table principles in different grasses, or other plants, proved by experience, it appears likewise 

 necessary to ascertain their degree of succulency, or the different proportions of water and woody 

 fibre combined in them, as it will prove the proportion which the saline matters bear to the 

 truly nutritive, as well as to the woody or indigestible portion of the vegetable. The statements 

 of the loss of weight which the different grasses sustain in drying, given in the foregoing details 

 of experiments, will assist to determine the above point in most instances. I may be permitted 

 tp illustrate this by an example : 



Tares are said to be more fattening than White Clover, Cock's-foot grass, or Meadow Fescue. 



I 1 



