104 BULLETIN OF THE BUSSEY INSTITUTION. 
Tue Ears or 1000 Oat-PLANTS CONTAINED GRAMMES OF: 
Organic matter. 
mM 
of 2 
se Ss 
=) 
2 e 
EI 3 
3 % 
= = 
<q é) 
Cellulose. 
15.664 225.640 109.221 
25.700 82.033 449.698 142.569 674.015 
31.859 202.050 743.551 143.540 41.667 1089.141 
34.291 246.020 850.788 148.901 39.310 1245.709 
It will be noticed from the previous table, that in Arendt’s oat-plants, 
— which, as it happened, were exceptionally rich in nitrogen at all times, — 
the percentage proportion of albuminoids tended in the main to increase 
as the seeds became more mature. But with the broom-corn seeds, which 
are in any event much richer in carbohydrates when ripe, than oats are, a 
different state of things seems to have obtained; in other words, the intro- 
duction of enormous quantities of carbohydrates to the seed, at the time 
of ripening, appears to depress the relative proportion of the nitrogenous 
matters. 
It is noteworthy, in this connection, that the proportion of albuminoids, 
as compared with that of carbohydrates, is considerably higher in the 
immature broom-corn seeds, than in those which are ripe. Thus in 
sample A, the ratio is 1:8.1; in B 1:6; in C1:7.1; while in the ripe 
seeds it is 1: 10 very nearly, as has been said. 
In view of this circumstance, it is perhaps conceivable that for some par- 
ticular cases, — in localities where foddering materials rich in nitrogen 
were not to be had, while those charged with carbohydrates were abun- 
dant, — the ripe seeds of broom-corn might be less valuable as fodder than 
the immature seeds, in spite of the large amount of cellulosé which is con- 
tained in the latter. For ordinary practice, however, the exgess of cellu- 
lose in the unripe seeds must be regarded as a positive disadvantage, 
which greatly lessens their value, and throws them into the class of rough 
fodders, despite the tolerably favorable relation of albuminoids to carbo- 
hydrates. It is, nevertheless, plain that the immature seeds of broom- 
corn are not wholly despicable as fodder. They have undoubtedly, a 
definite value of their own, which, though dissimilar from that of the 
ripe seeds, is well worthy the attention of those farmers who have ready 
access to the refuse that is scraped from the sorghum brush. It is em- 
. phatically true both of the ripe and the unripe seeds, that they need to be 
supplemented with other kinds of fodder in order that they should be used 
to the best advantage. According to the treatise on Broom-Corn and 
Brooms, to which such frequent allusion has been made in this report, 
