260 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
Aug. 
fCrttns from Prof. Norton-—No. S. 
On the Nutritive Value of Oat Hay. 
Analytical Laboratory, Yale College, ) 
New-Haven , Conn., July , 1850. ) 
Eds. Cultivator —In the January No. of the 
Journal of Agriculture, published by the Highland 
and Ag. Soc. of Scotland, I notice an article u on 
Oat Hay, and the relative nutritive value of oats 
cut green and cut fully ripe,” by Dr. A. Voelcker, 
Prof, of Chemistry in the Royal Ag. College at 
Cirencester. The subject is one which has long in¬ 
terested me, and I call attention the more readily to 
the statements made here, inasmuch as Dr Voelcker 
is an old friend, in whose results I have much con¬ 
fidence. We have worked together in the Labora¬ 
tory of Mulder, where he was first assistant, and I 
am sure that he will benefit the cause of agricultu¬ 
ral science, now that his whole energies are devoted 
to it. 
The idea of cutting grain while yet quite green, 
and of making it into hay in the same manner as grass, 
is not by any means entirely novel. Experiments of 
an imperfect nature have been made before the pre¬ 
sent ones, with this same end in view. Some of 
these have perfectly succeeded, while others have, 
if not unsuccessful, been at least less striking in 
their success. We have needed in the occurrence of 
these unsatisfactory experiments, some general 
principles upon which to reconcile them if possible, 
or at least discover the source of error, or by means 
of which we might more fully attain our object of 
inquiry. We need also the union of scientific with 
practical knowledge. Upon this subject, in order 
to the certain determination of many points, I will 
copy two or three sentences from Dr. Voeleker’s 
paper. 
“On the other hand, I am convinced that practi¬ 
cal men will remain in the dark on many of the most 
important points of agriculture so long as they de¬ 
spise the aid of chemistry, and persist in solving in¬ 
quiries connected with agriculture by mere blind ex- 
perimentising ; by experiments I mean made without 
plan, or anything clearly defined and distinctly un¬ 
derstood. If those engaged in such random trials 
would bear in mind that nature does not give a pre¬ 
cise answer to an indistinct question ; and if they 
would be candid enough to believe, in all cases in 
which an experiment has failed to answer their ex¬ 
pectations, that the experiment itself, or the antici¬ 
pated result, must be false in principle, and that con¬ 
sequently the fault is their own, and not on the part 
of nature—a great deal of good would be effected. 
Unfortunately, however, most men are as quick in 
condemning the value of the materials used in a 
bungling experiment, as they are eager to praise and 
enthusiastic in recommending every result when the 
experiment proves favorable to their views; and 
when such an experimenter has some kind of theo¬ 
retical notion in his head with which the experiment 
can be made to tally, the case is still worse. In 
this way a great deal of harm has been done, and 
the progress of scientific agriculture retarded in¬ 
stead of advanced.” 
There is much of sound practical sense in the 
above remarks, and every person who has stu¬ 
died over the numerous unprofitable and weari¬ 
some discussions, which fill up many of our agricul¬ 
tural papers, will fully appreciate it. It is for want 
of knowledge as to what they are about, that the 
contradictory results of most experimenters are to 
be ascribed. 
In the present case, Dr. Voelcker seems to have 
happily united science with sound practical views, 
and we consequeutly have intelligible and reliable 
statements from him. 
The first point to which attention was directed, 
regarded the proportion of water contained in the 
straw and grain of the ripe and unripe oat respec¬ 
tively; both samples being of the same variety and 
taken from the same field. As might have been 
expected, the green oats contained most water; this 
is shown by the following table: 
Oats fully ripe. 
Per centag-e of Water. Proportion of Straw to Grain. 
Straw. Grain. Dry Straw. Grain. 
3S.48 20.65 57.56 46.44 
Oats cut green. 
53.30 28.66 65.43 34.56 
1 have taken the mean of the various results given, 
as some discrepancy appears in the single determi¬ 
nations. By this table, several general conclusions 
are indicated— 
1. That the proportion of water in the unripe 
plant is greatest. 
2. That the proportion of the dry straw in the 
unripe plant is greatest. 
3. That when the plant is dry, the grain bears a 
larger proportion to the straw than would have been 
imagined; being, even in the green plant, more than 
one-third of the whole weight, and in the dry plant 
nearly one half. 
The next step taken by Dr. Voelcker, was to de¬ 
termine the nutritive value of his several samples. 
In this case regard was had only to the amount of 
nitrogen contained in them, that being considered 
the most important ingredient, in estimating any 
particular variety of nutritious food. He calls the 
body in oats which contains nitrogen, by the gene¬ 
ral name of protein; this name applying to a class 
of bodies that contain about as much nitrogen, and 
that are about as nutritious, as lean meat when it 
is dry. 
The proportions, or per centages of protein ob¬ 
tained by Dr. Voelcker were as follows: 
I. Oats fully ripe—Mean results. 
Grain, 15.39 pr et. of protein compounds. 
Straw, 8.46 “ “ “ “ 
II. Oats cut Green. 
Grain, 17.87 pr ct. of protein compounds. 
Straw, 11.01 “ “ “ “ 
No. II. was cut when the stalk and leaf were yet 
quite green, and the grain milky, but fully formed. 
They were cut at the same time, the green oats 
having been sown about one month later than the 
others. 
The conclusions to be drawn from the above re¬ 
sults are not only extremely interesting in a scien¬ 
tific point of view, but are of much practical im. 
portance. 
1. We see in comparing the numbers in the ripe 
and unripe straw, that the latter contains 3| pr ct. 
more nitrogen than the former. 
2. That the unripe grain also contains more ni¬ 
trogen ; this may seem a very strange result, but 
may be explained when we consider the fact, that 
the unripe oats, although they had not attained their 
full bulk, had received most of their nitrogenous 
compounds, and that the after increase while ripen¬ 
ing, must have consisted mainly in an accumulation 
of starch, and other non-nitrogenous bodies. 
In addition to the facts established by these 
analyses, it is to be borne in mind, that the unripe 
straw is also much richer in starch, gum, sugar and 
other compounds of the same nature, all of them 
both nutritious and easily digestible, but which are 
for the most part in ripening, gradually converted 
I into woody fibre. 
