DISEASES OF SHEEP 603 



kind of forage, and gradually disappears after feeding upon green 

 alfalfa or clover for a long time. A number of cattle and sheep die 

 every year from this trouble, which becomes quite serious at times. 

 The remedies in most common use by sheep herders and cowboys for 

 preventing the fatal effects of bloating are doses of lard and paunch- 

 ing. The usual instrument for making the incision is a long knife 

 with a blade an inch or more in width. The gases which are formed 

 in the stomach are thus allowed to escape and the pressure upon the 

 internal organs is relieved. Many stockmen prefer to use a trochar 

 and canula, which are especially designed for such cases and are for 

 sale by dealers in veterinary instruments. The chief advantage in 

 this instrument is that it is much smaller than the knife and the in- 

 cision heals more readily, without liability of complications. In in- 

 cipient bloat the administration of large doses of soda in connection 

 with cathartics may render this operation unnecessary. Where the 

 stomach becomes so extended that the animal can not walk, it becomes 

 necessary to puncture in order to prevent fatal consequences. The 

 gas pressure within the first stomach may in some cases become so 

 great as to interfere with respiration and the action of the heart, or 

 even to rupture the stomach wall and diaphragm. The proper place 

 for making the incision may be described as being the point upon the 

 left side of the body equally distant from the last rib, the angle of 

 the hip bone, and the border of the lumbar vertebrae. At this point 

 the wall of the stomach and the body wall are in close proximity, 

 which renders the operation simple and effective. 



MOST IMPORTANT POISONOUS PLANTS OP MONTANA. 



Death Camas (Zygadenus Venenosus). This is a smooth, 

 simple-stemmed perennial, with an onion-like bulb, narrow linear 

 leaves, and a short terminal cluster of greenish yellow flowers. The 

 plant abounds everywhere in Montana in moderately moist places in 

 open ranges. It is frequently called in the State by the misleading 

 name of wild onion. 



The death camas is undoubtedly the most important poisonous 

 plant in the early spring in Montana. It is found in every county of 

 the State and on every stock range which the writer visited". It occurs 

 in great abundance in the localities where it is found, and starts grow- 

 ing very early in the spring, even somewhat in advance of the native 

 grasses. The leaves of the plant are narrow and resemble grass 

 leaves, being at the same time somewhat thicker and more succulent 

 than grass. These facts combine to make the death camas a danger- 

 pus enemy to stock. The preferred location in which this plant grows 

 is the low, shallow coulee, or ravine. It does not grow in the driest 

 situations on the level plain nor in swampy localities. In Montana, it 

 grows at altitudes varying from 1,900 to 8,000 feet, or in all altitudes 

 at which sheep are grazed. A sheep may, in the course of a short 

 time, eat a sufficient number of death camas plants to cause death. In 

 collecting the material for feeding experiments, the writer dug up 250 

 death camas plants in the course of a half hour, and it may be pos- 

 sible for a sheep to collect them even more rapidly where the plant 

 grows abundantly. It is impossible to state definitely whether the 



