102 STOCK-POISONING PLANTS OF MONTANA. 



unusually advanced, and these dates are earlier than they would be in 

 an average year. 



So far as we have been able to observe, lupines are not very exten- 

 sively eaten by sheep during the spring and summer. This statement 

 is at least true for normal conditions where sheep are acquainted with 

 the range and are not being trailed or driven. Horses and cattle take 

 kindly to lupines and eat them in large quantities during their imma- 

 ture stages. When sheep are being trailed through strange countr}'^, 

 or when they have just been unloaded from cars, and are in a hungry 

 condition, they eat lupines ravenously in any stage of growth. The lu- 

 pines are not considered valuable as forage plants for sheep until after 

 early fall frosts, or until other forage plants have become dry and unin- 

 viting as fodder. In late fall, and especially after early snowstorms, 

 the lupines constitute one of the chief forage plants on some of the 

 mountain ranges. It should be remembered that the leaves of lupines 

 remain green and the plants offer slightly succulent forage after other 

 plants have become dry. 



Besides furnishing late green forage on the range, the lupines 

 constitute one of the most important native hay crops, if one judges 

 of the importance of the crop by the amount. In numerous localities 

 over the greater portion of the State, lupines cover the ground com- 

 pletely on continuous areas of sufficient size to enable the ranchmen to 

 cut heavy crops of hay from them. No reports are made which afford 

 a basis for any definite estimate of the total quantity cut in the State. 

 A moderate estimate would place the quantity at several thousand 

 tons per year. In some cases such hay is made up of lupine and a 

 number of other plants in almost equal quantities. Ordinarily, how- 

 ever, lupine hay is cut on areas where the lupines occupy the ground 

 exclusively. Lupine hay is greedily eaten by all kinds of stock during 

 the winter. Large quantities are fed every year, and this has been 

 the case for the past 15 or 20 years. 



Lupine hay is cut at different seasons in different years. With the 

 majority of stockmen, who depend upon native wet meadows and 

 lupine for winter fodder, the time of haying depends largely upon the 

 press of other business. It therefore happens that lupine in different 

 years is cut at dates which range from the 1st of July to the middle 

 of September. 



Naturally the stage of growth will differ according to the time when 

 the lupine is cut. If the plant is cut during the first half of July, the 

 nearly ripe pods, full of seeds, will be secured in the hay. When the 

 lupine is cut at this time, the pods do not open sufficiently in drying to 

 allow the seed to fall out. In cases where the harvesting of lupine 

 hay is postponed until September, the pods become fully ripe and split 

 open and the greater number of seeds fall out and are not collected 

 with the hay. This is especially apt to be the case if early fall frosts 



