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the conditious now stand uo oue can tell when sorghum 

 is poisonous without a feeding test or a chemical analy- 

 sis. Cases have been reported of poisoning from feed- 

 ing kaffir corn and pasturing Johnson grass, but the 

 presence of hydrocyanic acid has not been discovered 

 in Johnson grass. 



In August, 1902, Mr. J. P. Logan, of Selma, Ala., 

 reported the following facts to me : 



Nine head of cattle were turned into a Johnson grass 

 pasture for the first time; it was about four o'clock in 

 the evening ; the cattle became sick in ten minutes after 

 eating the grass; gave 8 of them linseed oil and alum; 

 2 died that night and 6 recovered ; one not treated died 

 in three hours. 



The Johnson grass from this field was tested for 

 hydrocyanic acid, and none was found in it. The re- 

 coveries, by the treatment given, seems to indicate that 

 the cattle had acute indigestion. 



In July, 1899, during a very dry time, Mr. Hazzard, 

 a dairyman of Birmingham, Ala., turned 20 cows into a 

 sorghum field that had been injured by army worms 

 and by drouth; in twenty minutes, he says, 18 were 

 dead; 2 were saved by treatment. The 18 cattle died 

 within 50 feet of the gate through which they passed 

 into the sorghum field. 



Hydrocyanic acid is a very unstable compound, and 

 this accounts for the fact that many plants that some- 

 times contain it do so only under certain conditions 

 and for a short time. Any condition that checks or 

 stunts the growth of sorghum should lead one to re- 

 gard it as a dangerous feed until proven otherwise. 



Symptoms of hydrocyanic acid poisoning are the 

 same regardless of the source of the drug. Of course the 

 larger the dost the more rapid and fatal its action. It 

 can be absorbed from the unbroken skin when in a pure 

 watery solution : it is readily absorbed from the alimen- 



