Published online by Cambridge University Press: 27 March 2009
Repeated attempts have been made, both during the recent war and the war of 1914–18, to make the store of starch and other nutrients in the horse-chestnut available for farm animals. Unfortunately, the extremely bitter taste of the horse-chestnut, due to the presence of saponins and, to a smaller extent, of tannins, has proved a severe obstacle, and horse-chestnuts have been found to be an unsuitable food for livestock both on account of their unpalatable character and their constipating action.