COARSE DRY FODDERS 263 



and these are liable to prove deleterious if not actually 

 dangerous to the animals. It usually has associated with it, 

 earthy and fungoid impurities, which are also objectionable. 

 By absorbing the juices of the alimentary tract it tends to 

 reduce the digestibility of other foods ; it has a binding effect, 

 and, it has been said, that owing to its mechanical condition 

 it is liable to produce a block in the bowels of the animals. 



Leguminous Straws and Husks. Leguminous straws are 

 subject to the same general remarks as cereal straws. They 

 are, however, considerably richer in nitrogenous matter than 

 the latter, and are not, as a rule, quite so fibrous. It is some- 

 times asserted that pea and bean straws are equal in nutritive 

 value to good meadow hay, but that is exaggeration. Pea 

 and bean straws are rarely equal to the inferior qualities of 

 meadow hay. Even when they contain the same proportions 

 of crude nutrients, the ratio of dynamic to thermic ~vulue is 

 always lower owing to the difference in the coefficients of 

 digestibility. They are less palatable to the animals especi- 

 ally horses than meadow hay. They are probably even less 

 palatable than the cereal straws. This may be due to the fact 

 that leguminous straws are even more liable to the presence 

 of moulds and other fungi which are injurious to the health of 

 the animals. Also they are very binding in their effects. 



The husks of leguminous seeds not the pods which 

 go with the straw are generally left on the seeds when these 

 are fed to animals. They are sometimes used separately, but 

 are of low nutritive value, and, like straws and all such fibrous 

 materials, they tend to lower the value of other foods used 

 along with them. 



