BULLETIN OF THE BUSSEY INSTITUTION. 343 
11. Seeds of black grass from Marion, Mass. <A considerable quan- 
tity of the seeds of black grass were collected early in March, 1875, 
from the bottom of the mow from which the sample of hay No. 10 
had previously been taken. The sample was carefully freed from 
admixed sand and from the seeds of other plants by repeatedly sifting 
and blowing upon it, so that a good sample was obtained for the analy- 
sis, which resulted as follows : — 
Analysis of Black Grass Seeds. 
Water (in the powdered seeds) Pha.) Pokkh is tebe at A edt eal bled LS) 
memo and CO,): wt.) cet or ot ot wt wt we 2.85 
I ies yal Sore etc cet «we 6 16.89 
Sueetmees (including fat) . . . ... « « « « « 950.56 
umeeeirociirom ash) 2 9s 2 1 ew te ww wt sw 22.98 
Ec ee 3° 
MEETS wel 8 we ww es 2 LOG 
Ee i Te OPEL A 2.65 
Tt will be observed that the results of the foregoing analyses of salt- 
marsh hays fall naturally into two or three distinct groups or classes. 
Black-grass hay, and the hay from the mixture of grasses that grow 
upon brackish marshes, are manifestly of decidedly better character 
than the hay of the rush salt grass (Spartina juncea), or “red salt 
grass,’ as it is sometimes called. ‘The tall, coarse salt-marsh grass 
_ (Spartina stricta), or so-called “ sedge,” on the other hand, exhibits cer- 
tain peculiarities of its own, among which the comparatively high pro- 
portion of water and of ash contained in it are conspicuous. 
It is hardly to be presumed that either of the samples of hay from 
the brackish marsh grasses were of the very best quality. In most 
instances the hay had probably been cured too late in the season. 
There were many seeds, it is true, in the sample of black-grass hay, 
brackish, inland meadow, which gave only 3.9% of the dried hay. He found 
also in one sample of green black grass 62% of water, and in another 60%. Mr. 
John Welles, of Dorchester (“‘ Massachusetts Agricultural Repository,” 1825, 
8. pp. 74, 76), found that 100 lbs. of black grass cut July 18, 1823, gave 38 lbs. 
of hay. 
* The ethereal extract in this instance, unlike the extracts from the hays, 
which were largely contaminated with the coloring matter of chlorophyl, was 
well-nigh pure fat, of faint, greenish color, as good as that obtainable from 
bran. 
