NEW 
“ TO IMPROVE THE SOIL AND THE MIND.” 
SERIES. 
VOL . III. 
ALBANY, MAY, 1846. 
to 1 
^6 1 
THE CULTIVATOR 
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ANALYSIS OF CLOVER, 
Being the results of an investigation by Mr. Hors- 
ford, now of the Giessen Laboratory , Germany. 
The following- paper, received by a gentleman in 
this city from Mr. HorsfoRd, was read, illustrated with 
diagrams, by Prof. Hall, at one of the weekly Agricul¬ 
tural Meetings, held at the Capitol, during the past win¬ 
ter. It is a valuable document, and will be found of 
interest, not only to chemists and men of science, but 
to readers in general;—the conclusions deducible from 
the analysis, agreeing precisely, as will be seen, with 
known practical results. 
In the progress of the last term, while other chemi¬ 
cal labor was going forward, I made an ash analysis of 
red clover, and accompanied it with a little investiga¬ 
tion which I will record below. 
To the latter I attach, in its isolation, no especial 
value, inasmuch as the circumstances in which it was 
conducted deprive it of perfect scientific exactness. I 
make it the basis, as you will observe, of explaiinng 
one or two chemical processes. 
It is well known that the juice of clover heads con¬ 
tains more or less sugar. The nectaries of the fully de¬ 
veloped head are especially rich in a honey-like liquid 
which bees gather. In cutting the clover, when the 
heads are fully formed but not ripe, the sugar of this 
honey must be secured. The water will evaporate, 
leaving the sweetness with the vegetable fibre, and 
other organic matters, to be fed to stock. If the clover 
be cut before the heads begin to develope, the sugar, if 
formed, must be in the stems and leaves. If not cut till 
the seeds are ripened, the sugar may have accomplished 
one of its supposed ends—that of keeping up a higher 
temperature within the seed, for the elaboration of its 
various parts—and thereby have been destroyed. 
It was my purpose to learn how much sugar—or 
rather, the relative amounts of sugar there might be at 
the above named three stages of the development of 
clover. Experiments with the first two kinds were 
made. The clover crop being no where permitted to 
ripen, I was unable to submit the inquiry concerning the 
third to the test of experiment. 
I cut clover exactly at the surface of the soil, on the 
16th day of June, just as the tufts of leaflets enclosing 
the heads were discernible. These I chopped to fine¬ 
ness, and placed a weighed portion in a flask, connected 
through the medium of a chloride of calcium tube, 
with a Liebig’s potash apparatus, having previously 
thoroughly mixed w r ith the clover a small quantity of 
fresh, carefully washed beer yeast, and covered the 
whole with water. Fermentation went briskly for¬ 
ward for several days. 
On the first of July, when the heads were fully de¬ 
veloped, I cut another portion, and having finely chopped, 
weighed, and mixed with the yeast and water, connect¬ 
ed all with a potash apparatus, as above. 
Without, or beyond both the potash tubes, were tubes 
of hydrate of lime, to prevent the absorption of carbonie 
acid from the air. This diagram displays the connec¬ 
tions. [See diagram, top of next page.] 
On the 30th of July, the fermentation being quite 
closed, the potash apparatus of the last mentioned, had 
increased in weight by 1.15 per cent, of the whole 
weight of clover subjected to fermentation. The first 
mentioned had increased only by 0.80 per cent. Thus 
the amount of carbonic acid evolved from the mass last 
cut, was almost half as much more than that from the 
quantity first cut. 
It may be well, since I have introduced so many ex¬ 
pressions betraying the laboratory, that I endeavor 
to explain the mode by which I hoped to learn the rela¬ 
tive amounts of sugar in the two kinds of hay. 
Most persons are familiar with the fact that distillers 
ferment large quantities of grain to obtain alcohol. The 
process to which the grain is subjected, effects a decom¬ 
position of the sugar of the grains into carbonic acid 
and alcohol. 
The sugar susceptible of this decomposition is grape 
sugar—that to which the sweetness of apples is due, 
and which is manufactured in immense quantities on the 
continent, from the starch of potatoes. Its composition, 
determined from analyses, is 
Carbon,.. 12 atoms, 
Hydrogen, ] 2 ce 
Oxygen,:. 12 “ 
Or in the language of Chemistry, C t 4 H 1 a O x 4 
If we take from this four atoms of 
carbonic acid, (=CO„,). C 4 O s 
there remain,... C 8 H, 2 0 4 =2at- 
oms of alcohol; the composi¬ 
tion of alcohol being,. C 4 II 6 0 2 
The alcohol becomes the <e high wines.” The car¬ 
bonic acid floats over the fermenting tubs. 
Thenard has shown, by distilling and collecting the 
alcohol, and weighing the carbonic acid arising from 
the decomposition of a given weight of sugar, that the 
weight of the latter, and the sum of the weights of the 
former equal each other. 
The alcohol may be permitted to go directly into 
acetic acid, as takes place with fruit when exposed to 
air, or continued as such by excluding the air. 
Vinegar has the following composition:—C 4 H 3 O ft . 
In order to its formation from alcohol, three atoms of 
hydrogen must be taken away and one atom of oxygen 
added. 
This takes place quietly and slowly in the cider, 
