THE OX AND THE DAIRY. 



quantity be taken, perish. In like manner, the cattle reared 

 on the plains of Schonen and Westragothia, have been found 

 to fall into dysentery when they come to the woodland parts, 

 from feeding upon plants which the cattle accustomed to 

 those places have learned to refuse. 



In our country, it is from feeding on the shoots of the yew 

 that cattle most frequently suffer ; it appears to be a tempta- 

 tion to horses kept almost entirely on dry fodder, and to oxen 

 put 'upon short allowance. Actions-at-law have, in this 

 country, not unfrequently been brought against parties, who 

 from neglect in not enclosing their yew-trees, by a hedge, 

 paling, or other defence, have permitted the stray cattle of 

 the plaintiff to gain access to the trees, and there feed until 

 fatal results ensued. Notwithstanding the poisonous qualities 

 of the yew, it is given, according to M. Husard, in Hanover 

 and Hesse, to cattle, in winter and when fodder is scarce. 

 Small quantities are at first mixed with the other food, and 

 the proportion of the yew-cuttings is gradually increased until 

 the latter form the principal portion of the sustenance. This 

 is a curious instance of inuring the system, by degrees, to a 

 vegetable poison ; and M. Husard, who was evidently asto- 

 nished by it, undertook some experiments on the subject. 

 He gave to an emaciated and feeble horse, a pound and a half 

 of oats, and half a pound of yew, without producing any 

 apparently bad effects. He tried the same experiment on a 

 healthy mare, in good condition, with the same results. He 

 then took seven ounces of yew, bruised it, and mixed it with 

 twelve ounces of water, and gave it to a horse which had fasted 

 four hours, and in an hour afterwards the animal died. In 

 this case the yew was taken unmixed with other food, on an 

 empty stomach. 



To the plants already noticed as deleterious to cattle, we 

 may add the henbane (hyoscyamus niger), the wild or hedge 

 parsley (caucalis infesta), the wild poppy (papaver somniferum), 

 and various species of ranunculus, or crowfoot. 



Subsequently to the investigation by M. Hesselgreeii 

 (' Swedish Pan '), on the plants of Sweden injurious to cattle, 

 M. Yvart, in France, investigated the properties of nearly 

 seven hundred common plants, with a view to their effects 

 upon our domestic herbivorous animals. Many plants, he 

 observes, are utterly refused by them all : among the prin- 

 cipal of these, growing in marshy places, are the following : 

 The common butterwort (pinguicula vulgaris), common 



