MANUAL OF CATTLE-FEEDHSTG. 311 



their bitter taste, wliicli is due to the alkaloids wliicli tliey 

 contain (compare p, 85). The large amount of protein in 

 the lupine, however, renders it a valuable fodder, especially 

 since it thrives best on a light, sandy soil and can contrib- 

 ute essentially to the improvement of the latter; but it 

 must be fed even to sheep with cantion, and only in com- 

 bination with other feeding-stuffs less rich in protein. 



Poisonous Efifeets. — At various times poisonous effects 

 have been observed to result from the feeding of lupine 

 hay to sheep. These effects have frequently been ascribed 

 to the alkaloids which it contains. In some years and in 

 some places they have been very disastrous, while at other 

 times or in other places no such results have been observed. 

 More recent investigations indicate that the amount of al- 

 kaloids present in the hay is too small to produce any evil 

 results, and that the cause of the poisonous effects is to be 

 sought in fungi which attack the plants under certain, as 

 yet unknown, conditions. 



Other Legumes. — Besides the plants above described, 

 there are a number of others which serve, to a greater or 

 less extent, as fodder, either alone or in combination with 

 other feeding-stuffs. 



l^fumerous analyses of these plants have been made, but 

 only exceptionaily have they been the subject of exact di- 

 gestion experiments, and hence their digestibility and valu6 

 as fodder can be only approximately estimated by com- 

 parison with similar feeding-stuffs of analogous composi- 

 tion. 



The so-called Swedish clover {Ttifolium hplridum) is 

 similar in quality to red clover, except that it is generally 

 more tender and richer in nitrogen, and can be fed to ad- 

 vantage in a more advanced stage of development. This 

 is true in a still higher degree of white clover (H rej7ens\ 



