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Well "Known Poison Trees 



It is said that first settlers in certain parts of the United States 

 were in the habit of watching what leaves, plants and vegetables 

 ■were eaten by cattle and other farm stock, and that whatever was eaten 

 by cattle was considered safe human food for greens and salads. 



The settlers were not following safe guides. Cattle, sheep and 

 horses have no means of knowing what is poisonous and what is not, 

 and they seem to be incapable of learning by experience. They will 

 eat a poison plant a second time, provided they survive the first ex- 

 perience. 



The loss of stock on some of the western ranges, on account of 

 poisonous forage plants, is heavy. Most of such plants are annuals, 

 but there are well-known trees in this country, whose fruit or leaves 

 are poisonous. A few years ago in a certain mountain range in 

 Utah, flockmasters lost many sheep while driving them along a trail 

 which led from one pasture to another. Upon investigation it was 

 learned that the immediate cause of death was a species of choke- 

 cherry upon which the hungry sheep browsed as they passed over the 

 trail. Having determined the species of plant responsible for the 

 losses, the remedy was simple but effectual. Certain portions of the 

 old trail were abandoned, and along other portions the chokecherry 

 bushes were cut out. The method of handling the sheep was also 

 changed. Instead of large bands which could be moved but slowly, 

 smaller bands were trailed, and so far as possible they were allowed 

 to fill up on healthy forage before entering the dangerous area. The 

 trail was also improved wherever practicable and by this means it 

 vpas possible to get the sheep through in much better shape and with 

 little or no loss. 



It is said that all species of cherry bear poisonous leaves, but the 

 poison is seldom sufficiently concentrated to be harmful unless the 

 leaves are withered. The harmful principle in cherry leaves is sup- 

 posed to be prussic acid. 



Forest rangers are trained to look out for poison areas. Kxpert 

 botanists are constantly traversing the government forests in the West, 

 locating dangerous areas and putting up skuU-and-crossbones flags, 

 or other notices to give warning to stockmen. 



Where the areas involved are not too great in extent, fences are built 

 around them so that stock like horses and cattle cannot reach them. 

 It is believed that some of these poisonous plants can be choked out 

 by planting certain aggressive grasses which in time will take full 

 possession of the ranges. Other plants like the wild parsnip, which 

 is so fatal to cattle, grow to such a height as to be easily seen and 

 are not so numerous but that they can be completely eradicated from 

 a range by pulling them up by the roots. 



Some plants, like the lupine or wild pea of the western mountains, 

 are deadly at one season of the year and nearly harmless at another. 



The stockmen grazing their cattle on the national fonests in the 

 Southwest, especially in Colorado and New Mexico, have suffered 

 serious losses through the cattle eating oak leaves. In that section 

 of the country the seasons are dry, and grass extremely scarce. To 

 eke out the scanty forage supply, the cattle browse heavily on the 

 scrub oak which covers large portions of the range. Ordinarily the 

 stock does not browse much on the oak and the little they do get, 

 taken with the other food, is not injurious, but when the oak browse 

 furnishes a large proportion of the daily food of the cattle, the results 

 are serious. 



The oak leaves and sprouts contain a large percentage of tannic 

 acid. The action of this acid on the stomach is extremely injurious 

 and the losses have been severe. The symptoms of the disease are 

 . staring eyes, feverish and blistered lips and nose, the animal ceases 

 to graze or seek for food, standing in one place for hours at a time. 

 The coat becomes rough and the hair is all turned the wrong way. 

 The animal does not chew its cud and in a comparatively short time 

 it becomes too weak to remain on its feet and death rapidly follows. 



So far as is known the only available remedy for this trouble is 

 linseed oil given as a drench in amounts of from one to two quarts. 

 The oil appears to overcome the injurious effects of the tannic acid 



—36— 



and if the disease is not advanced too far and the animal can be 

 furnished sufficient food so it will not be forced to eat the oak, it will 

 generally recover. The best method, of course, in handling the trouble, 

 is, if possible, to get the cattle away from the range where the oak 

 is found and furnish them with plenty of fresh green feed. 



Neglected horses among the Allegheny mountains will devour dry 

 white oak leaves in winter, if driven to it by hunger. Death from that 

 cause seldom results, but the unfortunate animal becomes as coarse- 

 haired and uncouth as a hyena. 



Mountain laurel or ivy (Kalinia latifolia) and its smaller cousin, 

 poison laurel (Kalmia angustifolia) are well known and justly 

 dreaded as destroyers of sheep. Cattle may be injured, too, but they 

 are not apt to eat the laurel. There has been considerable controversy 

 as to the exact nature of the laurel poison. Chemists are not quite 

 certain that they have isolated it. Some persons deny that the laurel 

 leaves contain poison, and insist that they are simply indigestible, and 

 when death results, it is simply a case of stomach trouble. This 

 theory has few adherents. The symptoms of poison are too pro- 

 nounced to admit of much doubt. Fortunately, sheep and cattle will 

 not eat laurel if other feed is obtainable. 



The fruit of the buckeye is reputed to be poisonous if eaten by 

 cattle. They don't often eat these nuts or seeds, though the tree is 

 fairly abundant in a region embracing nearly a million square miles. 

 It is not known that the buckeye is poisonous as human food. The 

 luits of all eastern species are so bitter that no one attempts to eat 

 them; but the California buckeye is passed through some process of 

 denaturing by the Digger Indians, after which they eat the kernels 

 without apparent injurious consequences. 



AVhen cattle eat buckeyes to excess the symptoms are soon made 

 manifest. The ordinary verdict of the farmer is that "the brute 

 is crazy.'' Wild, staring eyes, suggesting an overdose of bella- 

 donna, are the most noticeable characteristics; but a stiffening of 

 the joints follows, and the animal continues to walk long after it is 

 unable to step over an obstacle six inches high. 



. The Westminster Hall Roof 



No one is apt to lose any respect for the venerable English oak 

 on account of the recent discovery, by the Timber Trades Journal 

 of London, that the famous roof of Westminster llall is Irish oak 

 instead of English. It is the same sjiecies of oak, the difTercuce 

 between England and Ireland not being great. The interesting point 

 is that the exact spot where the roof timbers were cut should be 

 ascertained after the lapse of 81.5 years. The roof of the famous 

 building was supposed to be of English oak, but recent discoveries 

 make two corrections necessary, one that the oak came from Ireland, 

 and the other that some of the timber is chestnut. A few of the 

 beams which support the roof are two feet square. 



An old history has been found in Dublin which gives an account 

 of the cutting of the oak in 1098 for the Westminster Hall roof. 

 The English lumbermen wlio went to Ireland to cut the timber were 

 called "certain Eastcrlings. " They cut the trees on a tract of land 

 which Murrough, king of I.einster, had given to a church. 



Repairs of the roof were subsequently made, and it is considered 

 probable that some later timbers were mixed with the old ; but many 

 of the old are in place, tolerably free from decay, though somewhat 

 worm eaten. The chestnut timber seems to have withstood the ravages 

 of time as well as the oak. It is described as Spanish chestnut. A 

 photograph of a cross section shows the annual rings as distinctly 

 as if the tree were cut a year ago, and a magnifying glass of modcrati- 

 power reveals the characteristic open pores of chestnut, arrangc<l 

 in rows along the inner edges of the yearly rings. A photograph 

 of the oak .shows the medullary rays dearly, but the pores do not 

 seem to show in the picture. 



Instances like these cannot fail to emphasize the fact that wood 

 will survive men, generations, families, and dynasties wlien given 

 proper protection. 



