130 BULLETIN OF THE BUSSEY INSTITUTION. 
No. 12.— On the Chemical Composition of Blue Joint-grass 
(Calamagrostis Canadensis), as contrasted with that of Reed 
Canary-grass (Phalaris arundinacea.) By F. H. Storer, 
Professor of Agricultural Chemistry. 
I HAVE sought to test, by way of analysis, the question whether the 
so-called blue joint-grass (Calamagrostis Canadensis), which grows not 
infrequently upon the better sort of wild wet meadows in this vicinity, 
is deserving of the high esteem in which it is commonly held by our 
farmers. At the same time, and for the sake of comparison, I have 
had new analyses made of the reed canary-grass or ribbon grass (Pha- 
laris arundinacea), a species which might readily be made to yield 
abundant crops of hay in many wet places, but which is held in little 
repute hereabouts. 
The character of the specimens examined will appear from the fol- 
lowing statements : — 
I. Blue joint-grass (Calamagqrostis Canadensis) gathered June 30, 1876, 
from a boggy meadow on the Bussey Farm. The stalks were 4 to 4} feet 
high. Each stalk was completely headed out and in blossom. The meadow 
was very wet when the specimen was gathered. Most of the grass 
was dried in the air, in a shady place for the analysis. A small sample 
of the green grass dried at 105° to 110° C. lost only 46.539, of moisture, 
an amount which is so very small, as compared with the proportion of 
water found in other grasses, that I am anxious to repeat the experiment 
to test its accuracy. It is not wholly improbable, however, that this 
estimation of water is correct, for the blue joint-grass has a somewhat 
peculiar habit of growth. The amount of stalks or straw, namely, in 
this grass, is disproportionately large as compared with the number and 
size of the leaves. To this cause, no doubt must be attributed the 
general chemical character of the grass, as shown by the analyses below. 
The grass shoots up so tall and slender that it would not be strange if 
the long straw-like stalks should contain comparatively little moisture or 
be poor in nutritive matters. But the stalks, being in excess of the leaves, 
determine in good part the character of the whole plant.* 
* A sample of the grass gathered nearly a year later than the one above men- 
tioned in the same meadow, viz., on June 20, 1877, contained 59.33% of water. 
This sample was not quite in blossom, though almost. It will be noticed that, in 
this case, the proportion of water, though larger than in the sample of the 
previous year, is still much smaller than has usually been found in other kinds 
of grasses. 
