DICOTYLEDONS 1 55 



The Oak Family {CupuUferce), 



Beech [FagiLs sylvaticd). — The beech-masts 

 when deprived of their husks are perfectly harm- 

 less ; i. e. the embryo can be eaten with impunity ; 

 but it has been found that when they have been 

 crushed for the sake of the oil they contain, and 

 the refuse or husks have been made into cakes for 

 cattle, they suffer from some very deleterious 

 principle which resides in the husks alone. They 

 can eat the foliage of the beech, but not the husks 

 of the masts. 



Oak {Qiiercus Robur). — The only part of this 

 tree to which attention need be called is the leaves, 

 and especially in a young state. 



In early spring, at a time when the supply of 

 forage is well-nigh exhausted, it is the custom 

 abroad to send the cattle into the forests. The 

 animals having been for weeks confined to dry 

 food, eat with avidity the young shoots and leaves 

 of the trees. 



After some days there appear, first upon the 

 younger animals and especially upon those of a 

 thin skin with white hair, then upon the milch 

 cows, and finally upon all, signs of a malady long 

 known and described under the characteristic name 

 Maladie des bois. 



The animals, with a good appetite at first, eat 

 less and less ; they ruminate but little and with 



