ggers it is called) and
frothing at the mouth. He immediately saw the mischief, removed the
lambs, and on their way back to a bare fold some of them vomited the
Italian rye-grass that they had just eaten, accompanied by frothy slime;
others brought it up during the night. Some of them trembled, gaped,
and showed all the same symptoms that my calves had done, such as rapid
pulse, &c. Two or three of them are rather queer to-day. I hope that
Professor Simmonds or some capable person will tell us how this is? If
we mow this grass, bring it home, and cut it into chaff, all which tends
to heat or dry it, it becomes wholesome food. The same remarks apply in
degree to very succulent tares. If the Italian grass is brought home and
given long and quite fresh to the calves, it will kill them. It does not
appear to injure old ewes as it does lambs or shearlings. The dry
weather has something to do with it. In wet weather the evil is much
diminished, or disappears."

It is probable that the juice of this poisonous herbage was extremely
rich in matters only semi-organised, and perhaps abounded in the crude
substances from which the vegetable tissues are elaborated. Such
rank grass as this was should not be used until it has attained to a
tolerably developed state: in mature plants the juices contain more
highly organised matters than are found in young vegetables.

The _Sorghuo_, _or Holcus Saccharatus_.--This plant, introduced to
the notice of the British farmer but a few years ago, is only grown
in these countries in small quantities. It is very rich in sugar, and
cattle relish it greatly. Its composition, according to Dr. Voelcker,
is as follows:--

Water 81.80
Albuminous matters 1.53
Insoluble ditto 0.66
Sugar 5.85
Wax and fatty matter 2.55
Mucilage, pectin, and digestible matters 2.59
Indigestible woody fibre 4.03
Mineral matter 0.99
------
100.00

The plants referred to in the above analysis were cut in September.
It is found that the composition of the plant is very different at
diff