PROPER SALTING OF STOCK 245 



Then, too, late in the season the leafage and stems of water hem- 

 lock become so coarse as to be eaten practically not at all by sheep. 



Again, it is good practice to graze on a poison-infested area 

 that class of stock which is immune to the toxic species. Horses 

 and cattle are relatively safe on lands containing death camas 

 and can generally utihze with impunity the feed on such lands, 

 whereas sheep may suffer severely. Stock poisoning from death 

 camas, however, seldom seems to occur after blossoming. While 

 the herbage of death camas may be quite as poisonous after the 

 flowers have dropped as when the plant is young, the leaves are 

 much less palatable than early in the spring. The seed of death 

 camas, which is also poisonous, is seldom eaten, and, as the plant 

 approaches maturity, its palatability is practically lost. 



The larkspurs, although poisonous to cattle, are not in- 

 jurious to horses or sheep (Fig. 77). Horses show symptoms 

 of larkspur poisoning under forced feeding, but they seldom con- 

 sume the plant on the range. The leafage and stems of larkspur, 

 on the other hand, seem to lose much of their poisonous property 

 about the time of seed maturity, and the plant seldom causes 

 serious losses in cattle late in the autumn. 



Sneezeweed is evidently harmful to sheep, but its leafage ap- 

 parently is not devoured by cattle and horses. Hence, range 

 containing an abundance of this plant may be grazed with im- 

 punity by cattle and horses, although it would be dangerous to 

 sheep. 



Proper Salting of Stock. — Failure to provide sufficient salt 

 causes foraging animals to develop a perverted appetite. Animals 

 not given sufficient salt become restless and are difficult to handle. 

 At the same time they are unable to eliminate poisons so well as 

 are those supplied with ample salt. The reliance upon alkali 

 licks is generally unsafe, as most alkali outcrops are composed of 

 minerals other than sodium chloride, or true salt. Natural salt 

 licks whose deposits do not contain the essential chlorine element 

 are entirely unsuited to stock and in no way take the place of 

 common salt. If natural licks are to be used, a sample of the 

 salt should be examined by a chemist to determine if chlorine 

 is present. 



