32 The Colorado Experiment Station. 
§82. The ash analysis of this hay shows a very high percent¬ 
age of silicic acid. It is a well known fact that the ash of some of 
the grasses contain a large amount of silica, but this ash is as high 
or even a little higher than the superior limit usually found. This 
ash, when evaporated to dryness with hydric chlorid and subse¬ 
quently treated with water, leaves a felt-like mass of silicic acid 
which is made up of quadrangular plates with irregular margins. 
If a stem of this hay be treated with hydric nitrate and potassic 
chlorate, to destroy the tissues and remove the soluble salts, and then 
be burned, one can obtain a beautiful skeleton of silica showing the 
outlines of the epidermal cells and the stomata. The total ash 
amounts to a little over one-tenth of the weight of the hay, and over 
one-half of this is silicic acid. The skeleton thus obtained seems 
to show that the stem is completely sheathed in a siliceous covering. 
The leaves also furnish skeletons, but these differ considerably in 
their details from the skeletons of the stems. The silica, however, 
seems quite abundant in the leaves, almost as much so as in the 
stems. This blue stem feels harsh to the touch, not so much so, 
perhaps, as the sedges, but the skeletal silica seems to be even more 
abundant in the blue stem than in the sedges. 
§83. The coefficient of digestion found for this ash, 42.52, 
seems to be very high, too high in fact, but the separation of the 
silicic acid and sand in the ash of the feces was particularly diffi¬ 
cult. 
TABLE XXXIV. 
PROXIMATE ANALYSIS 
OE NATIVE 
HAY. 
I 
II 
Av. 
Per cent. 
Per cent. 
Per cent. 
Eighty per cent, alcohol extracted.... 
21.469 
21.537 
21.50 
Cold water, in 24 hrs., extracted. 
5.917 
5.813 
5.87 
Hot water extracted . 
2.975 
2.726 
2.85 
Hydric chlorid, 1 per cent. sol. ex¬ 
tracted . 
20.544 
21.049 
20.80 
Sodic hydrate, 1 per cent, sol., ex¬ 
tracted . 
16.485 
16.816 
16.64 
Chlorin, etc., extracted . 
5.586 
4.868 
5.23 
Cellulose, residue . 
27.024 
27.191 
27.11 
SUGARS IN THE 
Glucose in alcoholic extract . 
EXTRACTS 
1.38* 
1.38 
100.00 
1.38 
Sucrose in alcoheiic extract . 
2.89 
2.89 
2.89 
Gums in cold water extract . 
2.50 
2.50 
2.50 
Starch in hot water extract . 
1.10 
1.12 
1.11 
Reducing power expressed as Xylan, 
hydric chlorid extract. 
12.53 
12.53 
12.53 
Reducing power expressed as Xylan, 
sodic hydrate extract. 
Trace 
Trace 
Trace • 
*We experienced more trouble than usual with this sample, so I have 
used averages of several pairs. The results are only approximately cor¬ 
rect. 
