MINERAL COMPOSITION OF CROPS 



9 



protein found in the average pasture, while a comparison with the 

 Taplow pasture is even more unfavorable. 



Orr (444) m 1929 reported on the difference in composition of good 

 and poor pastures in the hilly districts in the Western Highlands and 

 in the southwest of Scotland, where it is claimed a bone disease, locally 

 referred to as croitich, in sheep occurs. Some of his data are given in 

 table 4, and they indicate that both calcium and phosphorus in the 

 affected areas may be deficient (403, p. 354). 



Table 4.— 



Composition of good and poor Scottish past 

 [Orr UU)} 



ures 





Composition of dry matter 



Description 



Crude 

 protein 



Ash 



K 



Na 



Ca 



P 



CI 





Percent 

 15.62 

 12.80 



Percent 

 5.85 



2.82 



Percent 

 2.21 

 1.25 



Percent 



0.27 



.09 



Percent 



0.46 



.15 



Percent 



0.29 



.13 



Percent 

 0.64 





52 







Elliot, Orr, and Wood (164) reported in 1926 little or no difference 

 in the energy values of good and poor pastures and, in agreement with 

 other investigators (126) in England and other localities, emphasized 

 that the poor nutritive values of some pastures were due in part to 

 their botanical composition. A more complete discussion of the in- 

 fluence of soils on botanical composition will be presented in subse- 

 quent sections. 



Aphosphorosis, or sickness from deficiency of phosphorus, has been 

 reported in certain areas in Ontario, particularly in dry years (384), 

 and soil descriptions have been made in some cases. Thus the Brooks- 

 ton silt loam in Canada has been reported as a soil on which grazing 

 animals do well, and herbage growing on this soil, which in one locality 

 has an available phosphorus content of 368 pounds per acre, according 

 to Atkinson and Woodward (35), contains nearly twice as much phos- 

 phorus as does herbage growing on the Berrien sandy loam, which 

 contains, according to these authors, only 84 pounds of phosphorus 

 and is considered to be less desirable for pasture. This is in contrast 

 with the experience in Michigan (229), where the medium-textured 

 soils such as the Brookston and Gilford loams are claimed to support 

 plants of low phosphorus content and on these soils nutritional dis- 

 orders in cattle are reported to occur. Such anomalies appear to be 

 common, and their occurrence suggests that much of fundamental 

 importance as to soil and plant and animal relationships is as yet 

 obscure. 



In France, Maume and Monteil (400) in 1938 observed animal 

 diseases in some areas where soils were developed from gneiss, mica 

 schists, or granites. The authors stated that the forage grown on 

 these soils was deficient in calcium and phosphorus. In India, Davis 

 (143) states that it has long been known that the native cattle of 

 Bihar are small and give far less milk than the cattle in many other 

 districts where it is claimed the soils are more favorable so that good 

 nutrition is possible. Other observations of the importance of soil 

 characteristics in the incidence of bone diseases have been made by 

 Crawford (127) working in Ceylon and by Rubino (499) in Uruguay. 



Although American investigators have generally recognized that 

 soil conditions may be responsible for bone diseases in animals grazing 



