3IANUAL OF CAXTLE-FEEBING. 289 



considerably in composition, according to the circumstances 

 under wliicli tliey grow, tlieir state of niatiuity, etc. It 

 is, therefore, of the highest importance to learn how these 

 various factors affect the value of a fodder. In the follow- 

 ing paragraphs we shall consider their influence on the 

 composition of hay, preniibhig that it is essentially the 

 same on all coarse fodders. 



Supply of Plant Food. — It is a well-established fact 

 that the natural quality and the fertility of a soil have a 

 very considerable influence on the chemical composition 

 of the crop, especially of coarse fodaer^ 



This influence is particularly noticeable on the nitrogen- 

 ous constituents of the fodder. According to analyses made 

 in Tharand, the hay from a manured meadow contained 12 

 per cent, of protein, that from an unmanured one only 9 

 per cent. Still greater differences often show themselves 

 when dark green, " rank " plants are compared with pale 

 yellowish-green ones of the same kind, occurring in the 

 same field, and of the same age. 



This was observed, e, g,^ in investigations made in 

 liCockern. Eank plants of oats, barley, wheat, and rje 

 contained at the beginning of flowering 16.4 per cent, of 

 protein in the dry matter, while weaker plants contained 

 only 10.4 per cent. 



It is not improbable that the low percentage of crude 

 protein which seems to be characteristic of American, or 

 at least of New England, hay, as compared with that raised 

 in Germany and Austria (compare "Report Conn. Agl 

 Expt. Station," 1879, pp. 79-83), is owhig to its having 

 been raised on poorer soils. 



Some analyses made by "Weiske & "Wildt,'^ in Proslvau, 



* Jahresber Agr. Chem., XIII., Ill , 9. 

 U 



