27 



the appendix to his work already quoted, he gives the results of 

 experiments made conjointly by himself and Mr. Sinclair, the 

 gardener to the Duke of Bedford, upon nearly a hundred different 

 varieties of grasses and clovers. These were grown carefully in 

 small plots of ground as nearly as possible equal in size and quality ; 

 equal weights of the dried produce of each cut at different periods, 

 especially at the time of flowering and at that of ripened seeds, were 

 " acted upon by hot water till all their soluble parts were dissolved ; 

 the solution was then evaporated to dryness by a gentle heat in a 

 proper stove, and the matter obtained carefully weighed, and the dry 

 extract, supposed to contain the nutritive matter of the plants, was 

 sent for chemical analysis." Sir H. Davy adds his opinion that this 

 " mode of determining the nutritive power of grasses is sufficiently 

 accurate for all the purposes of agricultural investigation." Further 

 on he reports, " In comparing the compositions of the soluble pro- 

 ducts afforded by different crops from the same grass, I found, in all 

 the trials I made, the largest quantity of truly nutritive matter in 

 the crop cut when the seed was ripe, and the least bitter extract and 

 saline matter, and the most saccharine matter, in proportion to the 

 other ingredients, in the crop cut at the time of flowering." In the 

 instance which he then gives, as an example, the crop cut when the 

 seed had ripened showed 9 per cent, less of sugar, but 18 per cent, 

 more of mucilage and what he terms "truly nutritive matter" than 

 the crop cut at the time of flowering. From this it would follow 

 that during the time a plant is in blossom and throwing off a super- 

 fluitv of saccharine matter in the shape of honey the assimilation of 

 true nutritive matter in the plant itself is progressing most favour- 

 ablv. In any case it is clear that the honey, being once exuded, 

 mav be taken away by bees or any other insects (as it is evidently 

 intended to be taken) without any injury to the plant, by which it 

 certainly cannot be again taken up, but must be evaporated if left 

 exposed to the sun's heat. 



Question as to Grazing-stock. 



There is, however, a plea put in by the agriculturist on behalf of 

 his grazing-stock, and one which he generally seems to consider 

 unanswerable. He says, " Even if it he admitted that the removal 

 of the honey from my farm is neither exhausting to the soil nor 

 injurious to the plants of the standing crops, still it is so much 

 fattening-matter which might be consumed by my stock if it had 

 not been pilfered by the bees." 



Now it mav at once be admitted that honey consists to a great 

 extent of fattening-matter, though it may be allowable to doubt 



