THE MILLETS 



123 



He fed several horses no other hay than millet for sev- 

 eral weeks. Most of the horses showed no evil effect, 

 but one in particular exhibited all the symptoms of 

 ' 4 millet disease." Referring to the results of exclu- 

 sive millet feeding, he says: M It produces an increased 

 action of the kidneys, and causes lameness and swelling 

 of the joints. It causes an infusion of blood into the 

 joints and destroys the texture of the bone, rendering 

 it soft and less tenacious, so that the ligaments and 

 muscles are easily torn loose." Professor Ladd, of the 

 same station, later isolated a glucoside from millet hay 

 extract that produced these characteristic symptoms in 

 small mammals to which it was given. 



Some horses are evidently more subject to this dis- 

 order than others ; most of them seem to be exempt. 

 But that millet is occasionally the cause of such troubles 

 is tolerably certain. Horses seem to be the only farm 

 animals that ever suffer from this cause. Cases 

 exhibiting the above symptoms were not uncommon 

 among farm horses in southwest Missouri some twenty- 

 five years ago, and millet w 7 as grown there to a con- 

 siderable extent at that time. They were not then 

 attributed to millet feeding, but it is probable, in the 

 light of subsequent investigations, that this was the 

 cause. 



In Professor Hinebauch's experiments the symp- 

 toms of disease disappeared w 7 hen other hay was sub- 

 stituted. It is generally believed that millet can be 

 fed to horses w T ith perfect safety if fed alternately with 

 other hay. In by far the larger number of cases it 

 can be fed without other hay and not produce any un- 

 favorable effects. For sheep and cattle there seems to 



