LARKSPUR POISONING OF LIVE STOCK. 



57 



sheep 108, 11.7 pounds, and sheep 116, 15.6 pounds. Inasmuch as 

 the toxic dose for cattle, as is shown later, is from 3 per cent and 

 upward of the animal's weight, the sheep ate, relatively to their 

 weight, from 2 to 5 times as much as is necessary to poison cattle 

 without harmful results. 



Table IX. — Sutnniary of feeding experiments upon sheep with Delphinium 



menziesii, 1910. 



No. of 

 animal, 



125 

 113 

 113 

 119 

 123 



Weight 



Amomit 



of 



of plant 



animal. 



fed. 



Pounds. 



Pounds. 



100 



111.75 



100 



32.75 



100 



50.25 



106 



101 



90 



73.75 



Date of 

 feeding. 



Jime2-16.. 

 June 2-13 . . 

 June 13-22 . 

 June 15-26. 

 do 



Part of plant fed. 



Leaves, stems, and flowers 



Roots 



Leaves, stems, and flowers 



Leaves, stems, flowers, and seed. 

 Leaves, stems, and flowers 



Amount 



fed to 100 



poiuids of 



animal 



weight. 



Pounds. 

 111.75 

 32.75 

 50.25 

 95.3 

 81.9 



Location 



from 



which plant 



fed was 



obtained. 



Pass Creek. 

 Near station 



Do. 

 Pass Creek. 



Do. 



EXPERIMENTAL HERDING OF SHEEP UPON DELPHINIUM MENZIESIL 



Delphinium menziesii was particularly abundant in Pass Creek 

 Park, near the Mount Carbon Station. When the plant was in blos- 

 som the whole park seemed to be colored purple. Plate XV, figures 

 1 and 2, show sheep feeding and give a good idea of the abundance 

 of the plant in the park. It t^as thought desirable to try an experi- 

 ment of close herding a bunch of sheep upon the larkspur. If Del- 

 fhinium menziesii would poison sheep upon the range, symptoms 

 ought to be developed by such close herding, for if they ate freely 

 it would be. evident that a much larger quantity would be eaten than 

 under any ordinary circumstances that would prevail in range feed- 

 ing. Accordingly, on June 14, 19 sheep were taken from the station 

 to Pass Creek Park and were kept until the afternoon of June 17. 

 During the day they were herded upon the larkspur area, and cor- 

 ralled at night in an old cabin. Most of them ate very freely of 

 the Delphinium menziesii. Notes taken in regard to the individual 

 sheep . show that five may be considered to have eaten only a little. 

 All the rest, however, ate a considerable quantity. They were not 

 allowed to stray from the larkspur patch, and the feeding while 

 they were herded resulted in clearing swaths running through the 

 larkspur area where most of the plants had been eaten. During this 

 time they ate very freely, apparently relishing the taste of the lark- 

 spur. Plate XV, figures 1 and 2, which were snapshots taken during 

 the feeding, show how readily they took to the plant. The sheep 

 were watched very closely for possible symptoms of larkspur poison- 

 ing. No such symptoms, however, developed. All were brought 

 back to the camp on June 17 not only none the worse for their ex- 



