340 BULLETIN OF THE BUSSEY INSTITUTION. 
ican agriculture, and that there is little likelihood of a custom so firmly 
rooted and so widely spread being soon discarded. 
In the hope of adding something to our knowledge of the subject, 
I have had several samples of salt-and of fresh-hay subjected to 
analysis, according to the method commonly employed by agricultural 
chemists, as explained on page 26. The results of this work will 
appear from the following record. All the analyses were made in 
the winter of 1874-75, with the exception of that of white-weed hay, 
and one or two determinations of moisture and ash in the fresh grasses. 
The estimations of water were made at 110°, unless otherwise ex- 
pressly stated. 
A. Hays rrom SALt MARSHES. 
1. Salt hay obtained in 1872 (crop of that year) from J. R. Brewer, 
Esq., of Hingham, Mass. The sample taken for analysis consisted 
of a mixture of spike-grass (Lrizopyrum spicatum), rush salt-grass 
(Spartina juncea), and some sea spear-grass (Glyceria maritima*). 
As originally received, the sample of hay contained some stalks of the 
coarse “salt-marsh grass” (Spartina stricta), and of “black grass” 
(Juncus bulbosus) ; but most of them were picked out and thrown away 
in preparing the hay for analysis. All the samples of salt hay obtained 
at Hingham grew upon a rather narrow strip of marsh lying between 
the upland and a tidal creek of brackish water. ‘The hay had been 
kept in a dry loft at the Bussey Institution since 1872. 
2. Salt hay obtained in 1874 (crop of that year) from J. R. Brewer, 
Esq., Hingham, Mass. ‘Fhe sample analyzed contained much spike- 
grass, some black grass, and a few stalks of upland grasses ( Calama- 
grostis ? or Agrostis). No sea spear-grass was noticed. 
3. Another sample obtained in 1874 from J. R. Brewer, Esq., of 
Hingham. The portion analyzed was mainly spike-grass mixed with 
sea spear-grass, besides some stalks of upland grass (Poa) and a little 
black grass. There was less black grass in this sample than in No, 2. 
* Gasparin (in his “ Cours d’Agriculture, 8me dit.,” vol. 4.) reports that the 
hay of this excellent grass contains 1.88% of nitrogen, i.e., 11.78% of albumi- 
noids. He reports also that the grass loses 58% of its weight when made into 
hay. Sinclair (quoted in H. Davy’s “Elements of Agricultural Chemistry,” 
Appendix) found that 100 lbs. of this grass (‘‘ Poa maritima”’) cut at the time of 
flowering gave 40 lbs. of hay. 
