198 VETERINAEY HYGIENE 



of green food has become established, to ensure that hay 

 is mixed with it in order to prevent tympanites. 



Linseed and other cakes require to be prepared by 

 breaking before being given to stock ; if not broken to a 

 proper size there is waste and loss of digestibility. 



Gorse shoots, if used as food, should be ground by a 

 special machine which crushes all the prickles ; without 

 this precaution the mouth is liable to be injured. 



VARIOUS ARTICLES OP FOOD. 

 Geass. 



Grass is the natural food of herbivora, and from this fact 

 requires somewhat detailed consideration. 



Grasses are very widely distributed, they include botani- 

 cally something more than the ordinary grass of the field, 

 for belonging to the Natural Order Graminem are oats, 

 wheat, rye, millet, sugar-cane, and bamboo. There are 

 certain plants to which the term grass is applied which 

 are not grasses, such as cotton-grass, goose-grass, scurvy- 

 grass scorpion-grass, cow-grass, and others ; some of these 

 are weeds, and none are grasses. 



Amongst grasses have also been included in the mind of 

 the public such plants as lucerne, clover, vetches, etc., which 

 belong to the leguminous natural order, and are only 

 termed grasses from custom ; to these the term artificial 

 grasses is applied. There are certain plants mistaken for 

 grasses which belong to other natural orders, for instance 

 Eushes and Sedges. 



Of the true grasses all are not of equal value for feeding 

 purposes, in fact some are pernicious weeds, and others 

 may be classified as inferior. 



Grass Land can by skill in agriculture be artificially 

 prepared, but a great deal of that in England and Ireland 

 has from time immemorial been devoted to grass, and some 

 of these pastures are probably the richest in Europe. 

 Grass land may be temporary or permanent depending 

 upon whether it is wholly given up to grass, or whether it 



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