FOOD PRODUCTS FOR DOMESTIC ANIMALS 523 



and the nightshade family, medicinal properties are quite gener- 

 ally distributed throughout the whole family or through certain 

 sections of it. In other cases, as in the poppy family (which 

 yields opium and morphia), the family Erythroxylacece (which 

 t yields cocaine), and the figwort family (which yields digitalis), 

 only one important remedy or group of remedies occurs. The 

 properties of many medicinal plants were discovered by acci- 

 dent in primitive times, while others have had their value 

 established only as a result of careful experiments on man and 

 the lower animals. 



3. FOOD PRODUCTS FOE DOMESTIC ANIMALS 



500. The most important herbivorous domestic animals 

 cattle, horses, and sheep consume large quantities of the less 

 expensive grains, and in general the roots and tubers which are 

 useful for human food are readily eaten by these animals. 



A large proportion of the grasses are utilized by grazing ani- 

 mals or fed as hay. Many plants of the pea family, particu- 

 larly alfalfa, the clovers, soy beans, and cow peas, are eaten by 

 domestic animals. 



Both grasses and other plants are cut and fed to cattle and 

 horses, while fresh, as for age. Large quantities of " corn fodder " 

 are used in this way in many parts of the country, and the 

 stems and leaves of corn are also cut up, placed in large tanks 

 called silos, allowed to ferment, and then fed to cattle through- 

 out the winter. 



Certain by-products of manufacturing processes are of much 

 value for cattle food. Among the most important of these are 

 linseed meal and cotton-seed meal, which are rich in proteids and 

 still retain some oil after the greater part of it has been ex- 

 tracted by the most powerful pressure available. The refuse 

 grains from breweries and the sloppy boiled corn meal from 

 distilleries are in a wet state extensively fed to cattle and 

 hogs, but are injurious if used alone. They are also dried for 



