538 
Fourth  Report  on  the  Analysis 
The  mixture  of  the  different  grasses  in  ever-varying  proportions 
renders  it  difficult  to  give  a statement  of  the  mineral  matter  which 
is  removed  in  the  crop  of  an  acre,  but  a fair  notion  of  the  gene- 
rallv  exhausting  character  of  a grass-crop  will  be  obtained  from 
analyses  of  meadow-hay  which  we  are  about  to  give. 
The  following  is  an  analysis  of  meadow-hay,  furnished  to  us 
by  Mr.  Paine,  of  Farnham.  The  meadows,  which  are  of  the 
most  valuable  description,  are  not  actually  water-meadow,  but 
are  at  certain  seasous  overflowed  by  a small  stream  coming  down 
through  the  chalk  and  greensand  formation.  To  the  passage  of 
this  water  through  the  phosphoric  beds  of  the  upper  greensand 
Mr.  Paine  is  partly  inclined  to  attribute  the  great  productiveness 
of  the  land  in  question.  We  have  no  knowledge  of  the  full  per 
centage  of  water  naturally  in  the  specimen 
Analysis  of  Meadow  Hay. 
Per  centage  of  Water,  Ash,  and  Sulphur. 
Ditto  on  absolutely  Sulphur 
Water.  Ash  on  Hay.  dry  Grass.  on  ditto. 
11-20  6-G4  7-73  -102 
Composition  in  100  parts  of  the  Ash  of  Meadow  Hay. 
Silica  . . 
63-08 
Phosphoric  Acid  . 
4-37 
Sulphuric  Acid  . 
•65 
Carbonic  Acid  . 
•16 
Lime  . . . 
12-89 
Magnesia  ... 
3-42 
Peroxide  of  Iron  . 
•15 
Potash  . . 
3-79 
Soda  .... 
none. 
Chloride  of  Potassium  . 
6-05 
Chloride  of  Sodium 
5-40 
99-96 
The  large  quantity  of  silica  in  the  above  ash  was  so  unex- 
pected that  we  were  led  to  believe  that  an  error  had  been  made 
in  the  analysis ; a repetition  of  the  processes,  however,  gave  the 
same  result.  It  is  evident  that  in  the  grass  of  this  meadow- 
some  particular  plant  of  a highly  siliceous  character  must  pre- 
dominate.* 
Amongst  the  series  of  grasses  furnished  by  Mr.  Bravender  were 
specimens  from  a water-meadow  at  Stratton,  near  Cirencester. 
The  soil  is  a rich  loam  with  gravelly  subsoil,  and  the  crops  pro- 
duced by  the  aid  of  water  are  very  large.  Two  square  yards  of 
an  average  part  of  the  field  were  staked  out  and  mown  on  the 
30th  of  April.  The  produce  in  the  green  state  weighed  ll£  lbs. 
* See  Analysis  of  Hordeum  Pratense  given  at  the  end  of  this  paper. 
