440 
Report of the Assistant Chemist of the 
Per cent of 
water. 
October 27 25 . 55 
December 18 27.41 
December 28 16.96 
January 9 22 . 56 
February 3 23.14 
February 14 17.86 
March 17 15.80 
April 17 11.09 
July 10 10.25 
July 1 8.01 
July 6 11.00 
July 6 9.63 
August 6 9 . 29 
September 11 10.25 
The corn meals under date of August 6 were from different varieties 
of corn which had been spread upon the chamber floor in the barn 
since harvesting and in a most favorable condition for a minimum 
amount of moisture. Those under date of October 27, December 28 
and April 17 were from samples from the same corn put up in traces 
at time of harvesting and hung to the rafters in the barn loft. 
NEW vs. OLD HAY AND GRAIN. 
A sample of timothy hay, the crop of 1886, of which a portion had 
been analyzed and the digestibility of its albuminoids determined in 
the early winter of 1886, was put in a cotton bag and hung up in the 
barn loft, where it remained until October, 1887, when it was examined 
as to the digestibility of its albuminoids. The result of this examin- 
ation was as follows: 
Per cent of 
albuminoids 
digested. 
New hay 67.39 
Old hav 55.10 
From the above we find that the nutritive value of the hay was 
considerably diminished on long keeping, and this led us to make 
similar examinations of samples of wheat and of wheat bran that had 
been ground and kept in the laboratory in glass-stoppered bottles 
for ten months: 
Per cent digested. 
Fresh. Old. 
Wheat bran 83.03 77.37 
Wheat 87.81 79.20 
