io8 Journal of Agriculture. [lo Feb., 1909. 



and made several experiments to satisfy himself. He shut up 400 

 wethers in a yard for two days, and then turned them into a paddock full 

 of this weed, and next day he could not find one sick sheep, and he 

 says : — " The fact is, in place of this plant being a poisonous one, I 

 think it is a very valuable one, being the first to show above ground after 

 summer rain. A small lot of sheep for killing purposes are doing very 

 well on this weed and crowsfoot, no grass." 



Mr. Geo. Faithfull, Brewarrina : — "I have frequently observed cattle 

 eating it in large quantities, and have watched individuals, but have never 

 observed any effects. It cannot be poisonous, or numbers of my cattle 

 would die." 



Mr. J. H. Spiller, Tubbo : — "My experience proves that it is per- 

 fectly harmless. I had a paddock covered with it, and was afraid to put 

 sheep in ; at last I ventured to do so ; the sheep ate it, and thrived 

 well on it." 



Mr. David McCaughey, Coree: — "I have a great deal of this so- 

 called poison plant on the run, and never find any loss of stock or bad 

 effect from them eating it. Paddocks that have had a spell, after the 

 first summer rains, throw up an immense quantity of this milk-weed. 

 I generally put my most valuable sheep in these paddocks, and find they 

 do splendidly on the fresh green feed, of which this milk-weed forms a 

 very large proportion." 



Mr. Angus Robertson, Yarrabee Park: — "As to the so-called poison 

 plant, I have really known sheep to thrive on it." 



Mr. Arthur Devlin, Uarah : — " I penned some sheep, and fed them 

 on Euphorbia Drummondii for about a week. They appeared to be very 

 partial to it, and were thriving on it. I also put a large number of sheep 

 into a paddock where there was an abundance of it growing very luxuri- 

 antly, and the sheep devoured it without any injurious effect." 



Mr. J. A. Gunn, Yalgogrin Station : — " I have seen the ground covered 

 with the plant after autumn rains, before grass had time to spring, and 

 sheep feeding on very little else for weeks without the slightest harm 

 resulting, either to station stock or to travelling sheep." 



Mr. W. J. Elworthy, Inspector of Stock, Narrandera : — " The plant 

 was growing all over the recreation reserve, and I watched to see its 

 effects on a flock of sheep that had eaten it, but no ill results followed." 



The Department of Agriculture of South Australia in 1903 fed sheep 

 in pens on this plant without injury, and concluded that although the 

 plant had undoubtedly been responsible for many deaths in large and 

 small stock it would appear to be mostly dangerous to travelling stock 

 and stock that were not used to it. It was considered a safe practice 

 to put stock on it as soon as it appears, the stock then getting accustomed 

 to it before it becomes plentiful. 



Strychnine Poisoning. 



Amongst animals strychnine poisoning occurs most frequently in dogs 

 which have picked up poison baits laid for rats or other vermin. The 

 characteristic symptom is the occurrence of muscular spasms or twitchings, 

 which, in cases where a large dose of poison has been ingested, take the 

 form of tetanic convulsions. Gerlach's observation that small animals 

 recover from the convulsive attacks as soon as they are placed in s*^anding 

 position has not been generally corroborated. 



