Journal of Agriculture. [lo Feb., 1909. 



Treatment. — Mr. C. J. Valentine, late Chief Inspector of Stock in South 

 i^ustralia, who has had extensive experience of the trouble, recommends the 

 giving of a drench composed of Epsom salts, 4 ounces; molasses or 

 coarse sugar, 4 ounces; ginger, \ ounce; and half a pint of linseed 

 tea. For 200 sheep the drench may be made in bulk in the proportion 

 of 50 lbs. of each of the two former constituents, 3 lbs. of ginger and 

 12^ gallons of water. 



Yellow Rash-Lily Poisor]ir]g, 



This bulbous plant which grows vigorously on poor land in some seasons 

 is a member of the Iris familv, and has at vaiious times been held re- 

 sponsible for the deaths of sheep. The most lecent instance was re- 

 ported in December, 1903, by Mr. H. W. Potts, Principal of the 

 Hawkesbury Agricultural College, New South Wales. Six sheep died 

 suddenly in a paddock extensively infested with the weed and, after 

 eliminating every other probable cause, the conclusion was arrived at by 

 Mr. Stuart Pottie, M.R.C.V.S., the College Veterinary Surgeon, that the 

 deaths resulted from eating the yellow rash-lily, seeds and heads of which 

 were found in the fourth stomach. That the plant had been extensively 

 eaten by the sheep was evidenced by the number of plants found cropped 

 close to the ground. 



Castor Oil Plant. {Richms communis). 



Occasionally cattle are poisoned by eating the young shoots and leaves 

 of the castor oil plant which flourishes throughout the States. The 

 poison is not an alkaloid or organic acid, but is an albumenoid ferment 

 called " ricina," which, when separated, is a white odorless powder having 

 a more intense prisonous action than arsenic. This action is explaine-d 

 bv an extraordinary power of agglutinating the blood which ricina pos- 

 sesses. Ricina is not present in the purgative oil, but remains in the 

 crushed seed, hence the poisonous properties of castor cake. Cosco re- 

 cords that in one regiment of cavalry in the Italian army where castor 

 cake was used 296 horses were affected and eleven died. 



Iqdiaq Mutter or Vetch. {Lathyrus sativa). 



This plant contains a poison which has a special action on the nerve 

 supply of the larynx causing paralysis of the laryngeal muscles and 

 roaring. The poison is a cumulative one, and its effects may not be ob- 

 served until some time after the plant has been continuously eaten, but its 

 effect is not necessarily permanent. Sometimes however the animals are 

 taken ill suddenly and die in a few minutes — on recovery all symptoms 

 of roaring disappear. 



Acoqite or Monl^shood. {Acomtum Napcllus). 



The common Tincture of Aconite is prepared from this plnnt. It is 

 strongly poisonous by virtue of the alknloidal active principle acojiiiine 

 which it contains. Deaths of stock have been occnsionally reported through 

 eating garden refuse containing withered monkshood. 



Hellebore. {H ellehoms viger, veridis and foriidus). 

 Hemlcck. {Conium maculaium, /Eihusa Cynapium and Ciciita Virosa). 



