240  Annual  Report  of  the  Consulting  Chemist  for  1882. 
under  my  notice  which  I have  not  seen  before,  under  the  name 
of  Alfala  clover-hay.  It  had  the  following  composition  : — 
Moisture 12  ’60 
Oil  and  chlorophyl 2 ‘74 
* Albuminous  compounds 8 ’94 
Sugar,  gum,  &c 5-07 
Crude  fibre  62  *26 
Mineral  matter  8'39 
100*00 
* Containing  nitrogen ; 1-43 
This  rather  coarse  hay  contained  a large  proportion  of  crude 
fibre,  and  was  not  equal  in  nutritive  qualities  to  ordinary  good 
clover-hay. 
Dari-seed  and  Millet. — Dari-seed  is  a species  of  sorghum,  and, 
like  millet-seed,  is  rich  in  starch  and  comparatively  poor  in 
albuminoids.  A sample  of  dari-meal  and  two  samples  of  millet 
recently  analysed  by  me  gave  the  following  results  : — 
Dari-seed. 
Millet. 
Crushed. 
Whole. 
Moisture 
Oil 
* Albuminous  compounds  (flesh-forming) 
matters)  / 
Starch,  sugar,  and  digestible  fibre 
"W oody  fibre  (cellulose)  
Mineral  matter  (ash) 
12-55 
2-93 
10-31 
70-43 
1- 63 
2- 15 
12-85 
3-91 
11-25 
60-25 
7-73 
401 
13-19 
3-83 
9-56 
57-06 
12-51 
3-85 
100-00 
100  00 
100-00 
* Containing  nitrogen 
1-65 
1-80 
1-53 
At  the  present  time  millet  is  about  24  per  cent,  cheaper  than 
oats,  weight  for  weight,  and  hence  the  sender  of  the  millet  was 
desirous  of  obtaining  an  opinion  of  the  comparative  feeding 
value  of  good  oats  and  millet. 
Both  dari-meal  and  millet,  it  will  be  seen  from  the  preceding 
analyses,  are  rich  in  starch,  but  too  poor  in  albuminous  or 
nitrogenous  constituents  to  suit  hard-working  horses.  Millet 
and  dari-meal  are  better  foods  for  fattening  bullocks  or  for 
poultry  than  for  working  horses,  and  are  decidedly  inferior  to 
Indian  corn  or  oats  as  a food  for  horses.  It  is  difficult  to  estimate 
accurately  the  comparative  value  of  millet  and  oats.  As  far  as  I 
can  judge,  oats  of  good  quality  are  worth  probably  25  per  cent. 
