Coi^oRADo Fodders. 
37 
coefficient of digestion, being higher in the case of native hay than 
in that of the alfalfa. The amount of digestible matter removed 
from alfalfa by the one per cent, solution of sodic hydrate is 
greater, about 2^ times, than that removed from the native hay. 
The matter removed by chlorin, etc., is neither considerable in 
quantity, nor does it appear to he very digestible. The amounts of 
cellulose digested were approximately the same in the two cases, as 
are also the coefficients of digestion. 
§94. The most important fact to be kept in mind in this com¬ 
parison is that the same sheep when fed these hays made a uniform 
gain of three pounds in five days on the alfalfa, or a net gain of nine 
pounds, whereas two gained one-half pound each and one two and 
a half pounds in five days, a net gain of three and one-half pounds, 
when fed the native hay. It may be futile to seek an explanation of 
these results in the analytical data, but it is the purpose of this 
bulletin to present the latter as fully as we are at present able to, 
in order to see whether this may in any way be possible. An exam¬ 
ination of the amounts of the various extracts digested and their 
coefficients of digestion would lead us, possibly justly so, to attach 
great importance to the alcoholic and sodic hydrate extracts, es¬ 
pecially as the latter solvent is supposed to remove the principal 
portion of the nitrogenous compounds to which we are accustomed 
to attach great value. 
§95. It may be that these two extracts, those obtained by 
alcohol and sodic hydrate, respectively, do stand in some immediate 
relation to the respective values of the two hays, but some facts to 
be presented subsequently in connection with another fodder, while 
not showing that the above inference is wrong, will lead us to hesi¬ 
tate in drawing conclusions too freely. 
§96. The substances removed by chlorination, including sub¬ 
sequent treatment with sodic hydrate and sulfurous acid, was 16 
grams in the case of the native hay, 274 grams in that of the al¬ 
falfa, the former having a coefficient of 3.28 per cent., and the lat¬ 
ter 25.39 cent., both very low. The residue, which I have desig¬ 
nated as cellulose though I know it is not pure, amounts to 1,502 
grams in the native hay and 1,442 grams in the alfalfa, much more 
nearly equal than one would expect. The same, too, being true 
of the coefficients of digestion, as we find 50.57 for the cellulose 
from the native hay and 52.67 for that from the alfalfa. 
§97. If we study the distribution of the nitrogen in the vari¬ 
ous extracts and the coefficients of digeston obtained, we find even 
greater differences, because we deal with smaller numbers and there 
is, too, a marked difference in the quantity of this element in the two 
fodders, the alfalfa being much the richer, containing almost 24 
times as much nitrogen. 
