70 ^ The Coeorado Experiment Station. 
one that lost the most, six pounds in five days. The crude proteids. 
on the other hand, show the highest coefficients of digestion ob¬ 
tained except for the proteids contained in the alfalfa. The total 
proteids digested by the three sheep fed on alfalfa hay with a gain 
of nine pounds was 1325 grams, the proteids digested by the sheep 
fed on the saltbush hay with a total loss of eight and one-half 
pounds, was 1090 grams, a difference of 235 grams in the weight 
of the proteids digested. The coefficient obtained for the nitro¬ 
gen-free extract was very low, 49.16, whereas it was practically 
73 in the case of the alfalfa whose nitrogen-free extract has a ver}^ 
liigh coefficient of digestion. The percentage of the nitrogen-free 
extract present in the hay is about the same as in alfalfa hay; that 
for the crude fibre is somewhat lower than in the other fodders 
forming the subjects of this study, but the percentage of ash is 
decidedly higher than even the alfalfa and has a very high coefficient 
of digestion, 71.55, against 57.67 for the alfalfa ash. The high per¬ 
centage of ash found for the saltbush hay is partly due toThepresence 
of a great deal of sand amounting to 30 per cent, of the ash. The 
high coefficient of digestion for the ash is fully accounted for by 
the fact that the base occurring in the largest quantity is potash, 
making over 75 per cent, of the bases present. The potash is very 
largely absorbed by the system while lime and magnesia are ab¬ 
sorbed by the system in small quantities and these make up the rest 
of the bases. It is to be noted that in this saltbush so good as no 
soda salts are present in its ash, only 0.073 cent, sodic oxid. I 
have already made mention of the fact that this fodder caused the 
animals to drink very freely, as much as-15 pounds of water a day, 
which is very much more than they drank when fed on other fod¬ 
ders, ten times as much as the minimum that the same sheep drank 
when fed on timothy hay and twice as much as the maximum when 
fed on alfalfa hay. 
§156. If we take up what I have designated as the proximate 
analysis of this saltbush, i. e., the relative amounts dissolved out 
of the fodder by treating it .successively with 80 per cent, alcohol, 
etc., we find that it is quite unlike the other fodders, but approaches 
most nearly to timothy hay, from which it differs in two respects, 
i. c., in having somewhat less cellulose and in the amount of mater¬ 
ial removed by chlorin which is much larger than in the case of 
timothy or any of the other fodders. 
§157. This timothy hay proved to be a poor fodder, each of 
the sheep losing flesh while receiving it as an exclusive ration. The 
results with the saltbush were very uneven, one sheep lost but one- 
half pound in the five days, another lost six pounds. I take it that 
the saltbush was really bad for the latter sheep, though it ate the 
hay freely and digested a little more dry matter than the vsheep that 
