64 THE SCIENTIFIC FEEDING OF ANIMALS 



cause violent poisoning, lupinosis, in sheep and horses. 



The yellow varieties are more apt to be dangerous than the blue or 

 the white. According to American authors the seeds contain the largest 

 amount of the poison, then the hulls and the leaves in the order named. 



The poisonous principle is insoluble in alcohol, ether and fatty oils, slightly solu- 

 ble in water, and soluble in alkaline fluids and glycerin (Liebscher). The conditions 

 favorable to its development or formation have not been determined. Exposing to 

 a dry temperature of 212° F. for three hours only partially destroys it. 



Heating for several hours in steam, under pressure of one atmosphere, reduces 

 its virulence. 



The symptoms of lupinosis are loss of appetite, fever, cerebral symptoms (sheep 

 — Oppermann), dullness, excitement, turning movements, pressing the head against 

 a wall and rubbing, abdominal pains, constipation or evacuation of soft, offensive 

 feces, the latter often bloody, occasionally hematuria and almost invariably icterus. 

 Death may ensue in the course of 3 to 4 days, or the disease may become chronic. 

 If recovery occurs the convalescing period is usually a long one. Postmortem 

 examination of acute cases reveals generalized icterus ; numerous small hemorrhages 

 are common (digestive tract, peritoneum, pericardium, etc.) ; acute yellow atrophy of 

 the liver, etc. Treatment requires, above all, withdrawal of the suspected feed. 

 Oil, but not salines, should be administered to rid the bowels of the ingested lupines. 

 Otherwise the treatment should be symptomatic. 



Lupines are by no means always toxic, and since their culture is of 

 great economic importance in certain sections (excellent feed for sheep, 

 especially individuals weakened or emaciated as a result of lung worms 

 and flukes, or anemic from other causes), preventive measures consisting 

 of the simple rejection of the lupine as a forage can not be accepted as 

 practical. A simple precautionary measure would consist of the experi- 

 mental feeding of a limited number of animals before the general use of 

 a particular lot or crop of forage. Feeding of the hulls gives most reli- 

 able results. If the experiment indicates the presence of toxins, the 

 latter must be removed or destroyed. Mere ensilaging or making brown 

 hay out of them is not sufficient for this purpose. The most frequently 

 used successful method is to leach the forage by exposing it to the action 

 of rain. It is put in small cocks and left in the field until well into 

 the winter. This, of course, entails great loss in valuable nutrients. 



According to Soltfien, the fresh lupine hay is treated with three times 

 its weight of water and 10 pounds per hundredweight of officinal aqua 

 ammonia. After three days the ammoniated water is drained off and the 

 mass is leached from 7 to 10 days longer in ordinary water. This method 

 also is not unattended with considerable loss of nutrients. About one- 

 fourth of the dry matter, principally nitrogen-free extract and salts, is 

 lost. 



Julius Kuehn recommends that lupines be steamed for three hours 

 under a pressure of three atmospheres (about 45 pounds to the square 

 inch). This has the advantage of not being attended with loss of nutri- 

 ents. It is, of course, practicable only where steam pressure is available. 



Potato tops are best utilized by drying or ensilaging. Dried potato tops have 

 almost the same value as meadow hay. They should not be fed when affected with 

 fungus diseases or when partly rotted. 



Leaf or twig My.—Leai hay may be made from the foliage of almost all trees 

 and shrubs, but in particular that of the poplar, ash, willow, asp, sallow willow 



