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STUDIES OF POISONOUS PLANTS IN THE UNIVERSITY 



OF NEVADA 



In recent years, as the forage on the open public range in Nevada has 

 become more and more depleted, losses of sheep and cattle from poison- 

 ous plants have steadily increased. However, even the stockmen and 

 herders themselves do not know fully just which plants are poisonous 

 nor how to avoid them. 



The Nevada Agricultural Experiment Station has therefore under- 

 taken a study of the poisonous plants of the sheep and cattle ranges. 

 The experimental work is of a simple character, consisting largely of 

 practical feeding tests. The plants are brought to the University fresh 

 from the ranges and are fed to common range live stock in small corrals. 

 The symptoms of poisoning are recorded; and after the death of the 

 animal the carcass is cut up and the organs are removed and studied. 



An attempt is also made to isolate the active poisonous principle of 

 the plant by suitable chemical methods and to determine its chemical 

 nature. 



These experiments are showing clearly which range plants are dan- 

 gerous, what part of the plant is poisonous, and at what season of the 

 year it must be avoided. They are also showing us that many suspected 

 plants are harmless, while others which are considered harmless are in 

 reality deadly. 



In all these experiments it is our purpose first to obtain exact 

 information concerning the poisonous range plants and then to spread 

 it far and wide among the stockmen of the West in the hope of 

 diminishing suffering and loss among western sheep and cattle. 



S. B. DOTEN, 

 Director, Nevada Agricultural Experiment Station. 



November 1, 1920. 



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