, 1900-06-27
POISON ON THE FARM.
NOXIOUS PLANTS WHICH KILL
OFF STOCK.
Death Turks Ia Many Growths Common
in the Fields-Tirty-Two Kinds Are
Poisonous and Scventy-Six Are Under
the Ban of Suspicion. v

lhe Bhn OF suspicion. v
The unfailing instinct of wild AMI.
mails which teaches them what forms
Of vegetation are harmful or poisonous
seems to be lost when the animals are
domesticated. as a result of which
thousands of head of live stock are lost
n this country every year through
poisonous vegetation. The department
Of agriculture has made a scientific in.
yestigation and has issued a catalogue
Of plants that are poisonous or dan
gerous to stock. There are So species
that are poisonous, 80 concerning the
Poisonous qualities of which there Is
ssOod though not positive evidence. and
81 which come under the head of sus-
poets. Nearly all of these forms Of
vegetation are of common growth in
various parts of the country. OF the
grasses, which nearly all ruminant IN
imals of this continent feed upon. sew
Cral species are dangerous. The seed
Of the darnel, or poison rye grass,
which grows a~bundantly on the Paci-
iC slope. is said to be dangerous to
both animals and man. In New Mexico
and Arizona grows a perennial grass
locally known as sleepy grass, which
horses and cattle bred in that region
recognize and esChew as harmful; but
imported stock feed upon it and often
die of its narcotic effects. falling into
a deep slumber, from which it is i'm
possible to arouse them. Indian corn
grass has been described as fatal to
cattle when eaten in large quantities,
but the poisonous properties are due,
not to the vegetation itself, but to pa
rasitiC growths upon it. The common
species of ergot which grows among
meadow grasses causes yearly a heavy
mortality. Every year farmers report
the poisoning of cattle from eating
golden rod. and this. too. Is very likely
a case of parasitic growth, known as
rust. Another product of the flower
garden, and one of the most beautiful,
is a swift and violent poison to man
and beast alike; the delicate and frag'
rant lily of the valley. Cases of severe
poisoning are on record, where people
nave merely Dltten at the steIhs ol
the plant in abstraction.
Most dreaded Of all poisonous weeds
by ranchmen is the loco weed, common
IN one or another OF It's forms
out the west, Where II does normous
damage to stock. The CHIEF damage Is
to horses, which seem to take to the
weed more readily than cattle, and
soon become locoed. A horse is said to
be locoed when he acquires an n
ural appetite for the deleterious weed.
Once in this condition he will touch
no other food and in a short time be-
comes crazy, in which state he some
times runs wild, lashing out with his
heels and biting at the mar or animal
that m near him. and sometimes
staggers about with dropping head and
half-closed eyes till death supervenes.
The cause of death is thought to be
in loco caseG, as there is no nourish-
ment in the weed and the animals ad-
dicted to the habit pine away with
surprising rapidly. The loco habit in
horses is comparable to the opium or
| hasheesh habit in human beings. ex-
cept that the animal. having no rea-
soning powers to act as check upon his
! appetite. succumbs more quickly. The
state of Colorado between 1881 and
| 1885 paid out in bounties nearly 5000