LUPINES. 107 



Montana occurred on June 28, 1900, about 5 miles west of Livingston. 

 Two bands of sheep, each numbering- 3,000, were being trailed west- 

 ward from Livingston. These sheep had been imported from Oregon 

 about a week previous to the time of poisoning, and had been allowed 

 to graze during this week upon rather short, dry grass in the vicinity 

 of the Livingston stock yards. On the da}'^ before the sheep were 

 started on the trail they were liberally salted. On the tirst day of the 

 drive the sheep traveled about 5 miles, and the two bands were camped 

 for the night on opposite sides of a small stream. Both band« of 

 sheep were watered in the same stream and at exactly the same place. 

 After watering, one band was driven across the creek and camped on 

 a bench about 30 feet higher than the stream. The other band was 

 camped on the same side of the stream from which it was watered. 

 At the time when the herders went to sleep for the night, about 9 

 p. m., both bands of sheep were in good condition. On the following 

 morning nearl}' all of the 3,000 sheep which had been driven across 

 the creek manifested symptoms of poisoning, and several hundred of 

 them were dead. Out of this band 1,900 ultimately died. The greater 

 number of deaths occurred on the first day, but the sheep continued to 

 die for a period of three days. During this time the sheep had little 

 appetite and ate almost nothing. No deaths occurred in the band of 

 sheep which was camped on the other side of the stream. 



Malicious poisoning was at once suspected as the cause of this 

 unusually heavy loss. A number of persons visited the place where 

 the sheep were poisoned and made an examination of the range for 

 the purpose of discovering, if possible, any poison which had been 

 placed maliciously upon the range. No such poison was to be found, 

 although careful examination was made immediately after the poisoning 

 occurred. Although suspicions were entertained by a number of per- 

 sons against a suspected enemy of the owner of the sheep, these sus- 

 picions did not rest on any facts which could be supposed to corroborate 

 them. 



A careful study of the circumstances of this case disclosed the fol- 

 lowing facts: The sheep were driven about -1 miles during the previous 

 day and ate the plants along the road near the Northern Pacific tracks. 

 The plants which grew most abundantly along this course were lupine 

 [Lupinus cyaneus) and milk vetch {Astragalus drummondii). The 

 sheep ate both these plants extensively. Both were in full pod, and 

 the sheep seemed to prefer the pods. It was observed that the pods 

 had been stripped off the flowering stems, leaving the rest of the plant 

 untouched. Of the Astragalus the sheep ate both the leaves and pods. 

 The latter was of a much finer and more delicate nature than the lupine 

 in this locality. The lupines were unusually large and woody, attain- 

 ing a height of from 2 to 3 feet. The facts thus far noted, however, 

 would hardly justify the belief that the quantity of the lupine which 



