68 DISEASES OF CATTLE. 



affects not only horses but cattle and sheep. These plants belong 

 to the pea family, and there are a number of other species of this 

 family that are loco plants and produce the same symptoms. 



Symptoms. — Loco poisoning is a chronic condition and symptoms 

 are shown only after somewhat prolonged feeding. The condition 

 is one of cumulatixe poisoning, and animals sometimes decline very 

 rapidly after the first symptoms appear. In many cases animals 

 acquire a habit of eating loco and prefer it to any other feed. The 

 poison affects the central nervous system. There is a lack of mus- 

 cular coordination and the animal performs very erratic movements. 

 In the later stages the animal becomes emaciated and eventually dies 

 of starvation. 



Treatment. — Locoed animals are badly constipated, and it is im- 

 portant that this condition should be remedied at the start. Any 

 purgative can be used, but Epsom salt has been found especially 

 effective. If locoed animals can be turned into a field of alfalfa, a 

 large proportion of them w^ill recover with no further treatment. 

 Recovery may be aided by giving cattle, hypodermically, daily doses 

 of three-twentieths to four-twentieths of a grain of strychnin. By 

 this treatment cattle can be cured and put in condition for market. 



WHITE SNAKEROOT (EUPATORIUM UKTIC^FOLIUM). 



"Wliite snakeroot, frequently known as " rich weed," is a plant 

 growing in great abundance in some of the eastern and central 

 regions of the United States. It is particularly abundant in parts 

 of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, and in western North Carolina. It is 

 responsible for most, if not all, of the cases of a disease which is 

 commonly known as " milk sickness." 



Symptoms. — The animals are constipated, sometimes have bloody 

 feces, become weak, and exliibit muscular trembling. This trembling 

 is very characteristic, so that the disease is sometimes known as " the 

 trembles." 



Remedy. — There are no remedies which will work vqtj efficiently. 

 It is desirable to give the animals purgatives like Epsom salt and, of 

 course, to remove them from fields where this plant is abundant. 



RAYLESS GOLDENROD (ISOCOMA WRIGHTII). 



The rayless goldenrod is a plant growing in especial abundance 

 in parts of the Pecos Valley in New Mexico and Arizona, and there 

 produces a disease so much like that produced in the East by white 

 snakeroot that it is sometimes called milk sickness. More generally 

 this disease goes under the name of " alkali disease." The plant has 

 produced heavy losses in the regions where it grows abundantly. 



Symptoms. — The symptoms are much like those produced by the 

 white snakeroot. The animals are constipated, sometimes have 



