on Permanent Meadow Land. 
517 
percentage of drv matter mav simplv indicate drv weatter at the 
time of cutting and durin? the making ; or, it may also indicate 
a relatively high degree of maturity or ripeness. Comparing 
the produce of one plot with that of another difl'erently manured, 
but grown in the same season, and cut and made under the 
same conditions of weather, a relativelv high percentage of dry 
substance indicates a comparatively high degree of ripeness or 
maturitv, and most probably a stemmy rather than a leafy con- 
dition of development. 
As the percentage of mineral matter or incombustible consti- 
tuents, even though the same in the fresh hav, mav be very 
different in its dry substance, according to the proportion of the 
latter, and as the percentage in the dry substance indicates much 
more clearly the probable condition of the- hay, it is important 
that it, as well as that in the fresh hav, should be considered. 
Other things being equal, a high percentage of mineral matter 
in the dry substance indicates a leafy rather than a stemmy 
development, and an immature rather than a ripe condition. 
The percentage of mineral matter in the produce is also more or 
less, though comparatively slightly, affected bv the liberalitv 
or deficiency of available mineral constituents within the soil : 
but as the tendency of the development is revy much affected 
by these circumstances, the effects are, in part at least, indirect ; 
that is to sav, the relative supplv of mineral constituents, affect- 
ing as it does the relative development of leaf and stem, and 
the tendencv to ripen, the percentage of mineral matter in the 
produce is in its turn affected accordingiy, as above referred to. 
The percentage of nitrogren in the dry substance of the hav 
may depend on several different conditions. The condition of 
manuring beinff the same, a high percentage in the produce of 
one year compared with that of another will most probablv in- 
dicate a high proportion of leaf to stem, or a green and succulent 
rather than a ripened condition. Comparing the produce by one 
manure with that of another in one and the same season, the 
percentage may again depend on various circumstances. Legu- 
minous plants, and some weeds, are much richer in nitrogen 
than Graminaceous plants in an equal condition of ripeness : 
leafy matter generally contains a higher percentage than stemmv : 
succulent and unripe produce a higher one than that which is 
ripe (all of which conditions are much influenced by the cha- 
racter of the manure) : and further, when in the succulent and 
unripe condition, as produce cut for hav to a certain extent is, 
the percentage of nitrogen is generally pretty directly affected 
by the relative available supply of it within the soil. That 
is to sav, an excessively nitrogenous manure will — other things 
being equal — give a relatively high percentage of nitr<^en at an 
