340 RESEARCHES ON THE COMPOSITION OF FODDER. 
the stalks, and frequently more than three times as much 
as the lower two-thirds of the stalk. 
The numbers of the third and fourth tables fully justify 
the care which all good farmers take to preserve all the leaves 
and flowers of their fields during the hay-harvest. 
Practice and theory agree perfectly on this point, for, in a 
given weight of fodder, the leaves and flowers alone contain 
at least half the nitrogenous matters in the whole of the 
fodder. 
By losing a portion of the leaves and flowers, the nutri- 
tive value of the fodder will be much diminished. The rich- 
ness of the nitrogenous matter likewise accounts for the 
eagerness with which animals seek it in hay, and the appe- 
tite with which it is eaten by sheep and animals of the bovine 
species. 
By feeding young animals with after-grass, as is frequently 
done, we give them not only a food which is mbre tender 
and easier of digestion, but we likewise give them a more 
nutritious element and better fitted to hasten their develop- 
ment than fodder which is further advanced in vegetation. 
There is reason to think that it is to the presence of a larger 
proportion of leaves, or to its consisting exclusively of leaves 
that the after-grass owes the superiority of its nutritive 
value. 
The fifth table likewise shows us that, among green fodder, 
after-grass still holds the first rank, especially leafy after- 
grass. In one species of fodder, there will be a difference of 
50 per cent, between green fodder cut in flower and the 
after-grass. Certain late green after-grass of sainfoin is 
equivalent, weight for weight, to ordinary meadow hay, with 
respect to its richness in nitrogenous principles. 
Finally, ivy, and especially furze , considered in the same 
point of view, may be placed on an equality with good after- 
grass of artificial meadows. 
The analyses I have just given will doubtless lead to other 
investigations, the results of wh ch I shall have the honour 
of presenting to the Academy as soon as I can arrange my 
numerous materials. 
REMARKS ON THE FOREGOING COMMUNICATION. BY M. PAYEN. 
M. Payen observed, that the facts mentioned by M. Pierre, 
in relation to the variable proportions of nitrogen in the 
same plant, according to the age of the plant and the parts 
analysed, agree completely with many facts proved in the 
800 analyses of manures and other organic substances, which 
