374 PHYSIOLOGY AT THE FARM. 



low is generally preferred when grown not for seed but for 

 green food, owing to its more numerous large and succulent 

 leaves. Nevertheless it is for the seeds that the lupine is 

 commonly grown, as these afford a nutritious food not much 

 different from pease and lentils. Professor Voelcker says, " If 

 I am not mistaken, the field culture of lupines will, if at all 

 practicable in this country, be found chiefly valuable as a 

 source of green nutritious food for sheep and cattle, on soils 

 upon which clover and the finer and more nutritious kinds of 

 grasses either refuse to grow altogether, or only furnish a 

 scanty supply of inferior green food. " * 



ANALYSIS. 



Parts. 



Woody stems, . . . . . 29.5 



Leaves and soft tops, .... 70.5 



COMPOSITION OF LEAVES AND SOFT TOPS i.e., EXCLUSIVE OF 

 WOODY STEMS CUT DOWN IN A GREEN STATE. 



Fresh. Dry. 



Water, .... 89.20 



Oil, 0.37 3.42 



Soluble albuminous compounds, . 1.37 12.68 



Soluble mineral (saline substances), 0.61 5.64 



Insoluble albuminous compounds, . 1.01 9.35 

 Sugar, gum, bitter extractive matter, 



and digestible fibre, . . 3.96 36.68 



Indigestible woody fibre, cellulose, 3.29 30.48 



Insoluble mineral matters, . . 0.19 1.75 



100.0 100.0 



It appears that sheep and cattle soon get accustomed to 

 lupine, and even like it much after some time, notwithstand- 

 ing the absence of saccharine matter, and even a certain bitter- 

 ness of taste, but that it is refused by pigs. It is not pre- 

 tended by the patrons of this kind of food that it is more 



* ' English Journal of Agriculture/ vol. xxi. p. 389. 



