BULLETIN OF THE BUSSEY INSTITUTION. 117 
dandelion plant may be eaten more readily by cattle when wilted or 
dried than when in the natural green condition, and the differences of 
opinion above recorded may be in some part due to differences as to 
the state of dryness of the plant in the trials made by the different 
observers. It is to be noted also that in Linnzeus’s experiments special 
care was taken not to offer the plants to the cattle in the spring, when 
many animals are ready to devour almost any green plant. In his 
experiments, the plan was to offer the freshly gathered plants to animals 
that were neither very hungry nor yet glutted with food. Sprengel, on 
the contrary, watched the animals in their pastures and observed what 
plants they ate. He noted in the pastures, also, what kinds of plants 
had been browsed down most closely. 
The sample analyzed consisted of a large number of dandelion 
leaves collected May 18, 1875, in a mowing field adjoining the lawn 
of the Bussey Institution. The plants were in bud, but not in flower. 
They were cut off with a knife at the surface of the ground, as is 
done when the plant is gathered for table use; and the sample was, 
in fact, a merchantable one. The following results were obtained on 
analysis : — 
Dandelion Leaves. Green. Dried at 110°. 
Were ee se 6 6 . 85.5407 
Ash * (free from C & CO,) Peatte sie e BAFO0 13.74%, 
Albuminoids .. . ae Lt ee 19.38 
Carbohydrates felndiae fat) RU Oar i: EL: 56.36 
Cellulose (Ireefromiash) . .... . 1.52 10.52 . 
100.00 100.00 
PERM MIAGCr . 8. 2 5 ew ow » 12.47 86.26 
Meeeuaer extract) . . . .' « s- =» 0.69 477 
De. ww we Cl C046 2 8.09-3.17 
Sprengel found 85% of water in dandelion plants gathered in May ; 
and Winternitz ¢ found 8.88% of ash in plants gathered early in May, 
and dried at a moderate heat. He found in these ashes, among other 
things, 32% of potash, 64% phosphoric acid, 163% of lime, nearly 7% 
of magnesia, about 6% of silica, 83% of soda, and 18% of carbonic 
acid. 
* Somewhat contaminated with sand. 
Tt Liebig and Kopp’s ‘‘ Jahresbericht der Chemie,” 1855, 8. 722. 
