Miscellaneous Feeding Stuffs. 209 



show that the poisoning is due to the presence of barium salts in cer- 

 tain legume plants. Barium does not generally exist in the soil, so 

 the dangerous plants are found only in certain districts. Loco poison- 

 ing is most prevalent in springtime when the ranges provide scant 

 feed, and the emaciated animals are forced to subsist largely on 

 plants which they would ordinarily reject Well-nourished animals 

 are rarely affected. 



319. Plants carrying Prussic acid. — Prussic acid, a most deadly 

 poison, has been found in over 200 species of plants. It is present 

 in the wild cherry, laurel, locust, vetch, Java bean, flax, etc. The 

 leaves of the wild cherry, especially when wilted, are particularly 

 fatal to cattle. Peters and Avery of the Nebraska Station^ have 

 shown that when sorghum and kafir are stunted by drought, Prussic 

 acid may develop in such quantity as to bring death to cattle browsing 

 upon them, the affected animals often dying soon after eating a few 

 mouthfuls of the poisonous forage. AVhile normal plants are en- 

 tirely harmless, authorities advise caution in the use of the sorghums, 

 kafirs, Johnson grass, etc., growing on rich soil, as well as in the use 

 of second-growth and stunted plants. The poison is not found in 

 wilted or cured kafir or sorghum, which are therefore always safe for 

 feeding. 



320. Cornstalk disease. — A mysterious ailment in the West at times 

 attacks cattle turned into the stalk fields during fall and winter after 

 the corn ears have been removed. All efforts to determine the cause 

 have thus far proved futile. Alway and Peters of the Nebraska Sta- 

 tion- investigated the losses from cornstalk disease in one county in 

 Nebraska in which 404 farmers lost 1,531 head of cattle during a 

 single fall. They state that no precaution and no feed or combina- 

 tion of feeds has so far been found to prevent or mitigate the losses 

 from this disease. They further conclude that farmers in districts 

 in which the disease is prevalent, unless they are to lose the valuable 

 forage of their corn stalks, must choose between two alternatives : 

 (1) Cutting the stalks when the corn ripens, shocking them in the 

 field and feeding the fodder, thus avoiding all trouble. (2) Pas- 

 turing the standing stalks with the knowledge that they are liable 

 to lose as many as one-twentieth of their cattle in an unfavorable 

 season. 



321. Ergot. — The seeds of rye and many grasses are sometimes at- 

 tacked by a fungus which produces enlarged black, sooty masses, 



» Bui. 77. -Press Bui. 27. 



15 



