302 Composition and Nutritive Value of Trifolium striatum. 
Good red clover in a dried state contains on an average 3J per 
cent, of fatty matter, 18 per cent, of albuminous compounds, and 
27 to 28 per cent, of woody fibre. INIeadow-hay in the same state 
3 per cent, of fatty matter, 10 per cent, of albuminous com- 
pounds, and about 36 per cent, of woody fibre. 
A comparison of the precedinj? analysis with the composition 
of good red clover and with meadow-hay shows : — 
1. That the specimen of Trifolium striatum examined by me 
contained about as much ready-made fat as meadow-hay and 
somewhat less than clover. 
2. That it was rather richer than meadow-liay in albuminous 
compounds, and contained about one-third less of these com- 
pounds than red clover. 
3. That the proportion of indigestible woody fibre in the 
Trifolium striatum was mucli greater than it is on an average in 
red clover and meadow-hay. 
I purposely abstain from drawing any practical deductions 
from the preceding analysis ; for, although it shows that the 
sample analysed by me abounded in woody fibre, it does not 
follow that Trifolium striatum generally contains so large an 
amount. 
In my paper on the growth of clover and its composition at 
different periods of its growth, I have shown that the amount of 
woody fibre rapidly increases towards the end of the process 
of vegetation of the clover-plant, and pointed out the serious loss 
in nutritive matter which takes place when clover is allowed to 
become over-ripe before harvested. 
It is quite possible that the sample when it readied me was 
over-ripe. Nevertheless I place the analysis on record, in the 
hope of having another opportunity of receiving the Trifolium 
striatum in a less advanced stage of growth, and for the special 
purpose of directing the attention of light-land farmers to a 
species of clover which is likely to be of considerable value on 
sandy soils where broad-leaved clover does not succeed. 
11, Salishury-square, Fleet-street, 
Feb. 1, 1868. 
