76 PASTURE AND RANGE. 



dren and even by adults, who mistake them for the arom- 

 atic roots of harmless plants. 



During 1 May and June, 1900, Chesnut and Wilcox noted 

 in Montana thirty-six cases of Water Hemlock poisoning 

 among cattle, and one hundred and five among sheep. 

 Thirty of the cattle and fifty of the sheep died. The 

 poisoning occurs under various circumstances. Chesnut 

 states that the seeds are sufficiently poisonous to cause 

 loss when the mature plant is cut and fed with hay, but 

 Marsh believes that this is a mistake. However this may 

 be, there is no doubt of the poisonous character of the 

 root and young shoot. Cases have been reported of 

 horses killed by eating the roots upturned by the plow. 

 Animals have also been reported to have been poisoned, 

 especially in the spring, by drinking water from wet 

 places where the Water Hemlock grew. The poison was 

 considered to have got into the water from the juices of 

 the roots crushed by the trampling of the animals them- 

 selves. Cases of poisoning by the young shoots are also 

 on record. Although the stem and leaves of the mature 

 plant contain little poison, it has been repeatedly proved 

 that the young plant, six inches or so in height, contains 

 it in sufficient quantity to be a source of much danger. 

 This early spring stage is especially attractive when 

 other .green stuff is scarce, and the ground being wet at 

 this season of the year the roots are readily pulled up 

 by the grazing animal, and form an added menace. We 

 are indebted to Dr. C. D. McGilvray, now Principal of the 

 Ontario Veterinary College, for the details of an interest- 

 ing case of stock poisoning by this spring growth of ttw> 

 Water Hemlock. It came under his observation when he 

 was stationed at Winnipeg. Twenty-one head of cattle 

 were turned out to pasture between 9 and 10 a.m. and at 



