MANUAL OF CATTLE-FEEDING. 33 



value ; and those fodders which contain them in the largebt 

 cpantity are, other things being equal, the most vahiahle, 

 since the albuminoids are the most expensive ingredients 

 to prodnee. 



Occurrence in Plants. — This is not the place for a 

 discussion of the composition of the various fodders, but a 

 few general considerations regarding the distribution of 

 the albuminoids in the plant may not be out of place. 



In the plant, as in the animal, life manifests itself chiefly 

 through the albundnoids, and consequently all young and 

 growing plants and parts of plants contain them abundantly, 

 while in the older portions, which have for the most part 

 finished their growth, they are present in much smaller 

 proportion, both owing to the increase of other substances, 

 chiefly woody-fibre, and an actual transfer (translocation) of 

 albuminoids to other parts of the plant. This is one reason 

 of the greater nutritive value of young grass and green 

 fodder in general, of hay cut while still young, etc. (See, 

 however, page 291L) 



In mature plants the albuminoids tend to accumulate in 

 the seeds. TJius the grains, beans, peas, etc., contain large 

 quantities of albuminoids and owe to them, in a large meas- 

 ure, their value as fodder, while the plants on which they 

 grow, if allowed to stand till the seed is ripe, become cor- 

 respondingly impoverished in these compounds. 



In the case of the cereals, it is the seeds which we desire, 

 and hence we allow the plant to mature. 



On the other hand, in the case of the grasses, belonging 

 to the same natural family (graminem\ we use the whole 

 plant as fodder, and hence cut it before the seed matures, 

 l)ecause, although the whole amount of albinninoids is not 

 decreased in ripening, it is largely stored up in the seeds, 

 and these are mostly lost in the processeb of curing, while 



