St. Tammany farmer., 1906-10-20
STUDY LOCO WEED.
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
soTANlsTs At WORK. d
Immense Losses Sustained by West
srn Rangers Has induced the Gov
ernment to Investigate This
Peculiar Plant.

| Department of agriculture botan
fists are making a study Of the loce
weed to ascertain 5 which particular
element in it is Injurious to cattle
The experiments are being made as q
result of the losses sustained by west
ern rangers through the peculiar dis
ease produced by the plant on their
cattle. Whole herds of sheep are
known to have become locoed by eat.
ing the weed and the resultant loss
to the raisers has been extremely
heavy.
The experiments are unusual and
interesting. A large supply of the
different species of the plant has been
sent to the department from the states
IN which It is found, principally Mon
tana, and is undergoing a chemical
analysis in the 1abratories of the bo-
tanical division. One form of the ex-
periments is the tests made on live
animals. The poison is extracted from
the weed and fed to a rabbit The ef-
feet is similar to that of intoxicants
on human beings. For the next sew
eral hours the rabbit finds itself on
a glorious spree and its antics are like
those Of a drunken man. Unable to
keep Its balance, and seeing double,
the rabbit finally collapses complete
ly and falls into stupor, from which
it awakes, maybe, with an awful head
ache.
, So amusing have the antics of some
OF the animals been that photographs
have been taken of them while they
were under the influence of the stim-
ulant. One Of these pictures shows
q locoed rabbit which had been per-
mitted to go on. particularly siren
uoxs jag. The snap shot shows him
lying on his back with his feet stuck
up in the air. On his face is fool
ish grin. His half-closed eyes are
bleared. His fur is rufled and muss-
ed. His mouth is half open, giving
him the appearance of an inebriated
man who is trying to tell story, but
can't make it seem to have any sense.
the phographs give the i'm
preston of overindulgence in spirits.
In addition to these tests the de-
partment is making experiments at
stations in various parts Of the west
In fact, the latter experiments have
been in progress for several years and
he innovation lies in the introduc-
ion of the work in, the local labra-
:ories. The experiments carried on
lere are, however. entirely different |
rom those made In the west. The |
after consist mainly of observations
made on various ranches of the effect |
II the weed ON animals. 81
The loco disease has been gener-
lily known for many years, but in
pite of unceasing Investigation its
ause has never been exactly disclos-
d. Even now there is some skepti-
ism as to whether 1t is attributable
0 the so.called loco weed or to some
ther source. A number of raisers
elieve the disease may be produced
q sheep by their eating large guam
tiles of the alkan soil. On the other
and, many of the cattlemen hold that
heep are less apt to become locoed
.hen regularly salted than when they
at large quantities of alkali, while
he large majority are Of the opinion
aat there is no connection between
)co and alkan.
Experts in botany believe that the
lost reliable observations of the dis
ase indicate that it is the result of
le animals consuming certain weeds.
he disease assumes either an active
: chronic form. In the active form
le animal lives only few days,
lille in the chronic form 1t may live
IT two or three years and manifest
le same symptoms in a milder de. ).
zee.
It has been found that horses and !.
leep are the animals which are most
equently affected by the disease. /.
attle occasionally acquire the habit,
1t the cases are comparatively rare. :
certain parts of Montana the habit =
,came so widespread some time ago .
nong horses that the raising of :.
EN- was abandoned until the locoed
finals were disposed of and other !.
-. ~ L. Z