149 



Flowers. — It bears a profusion of fragrant lilac-coloured flowers, hence 

 one of its vernacular names. 



Fruii. — On the 22nd October, 1888, the honorary secretary of the Adelong- 

 School Board wrote : — 



Recently a pupil of the Adelong Public School was taken suddenly and 

 seriously ill, apparently having eaten something of a poisonous nature. She 

 stated to her doctor that she ate some berries that grow on the Whitfe Cedar 

 trees in the playground. 



I would invite my readers' attention to the following data collected by 

 me and published in the Agricultural Gazette under the heading " The 

 alleged poisonous nature of White Cedar berries." 



Here is quite a recent report: — ■ 



Penrith. — Three pigs belonging to Mr. W. Magrath, of Emu Plains, have 

 been poisoned through eating White Cedar berries. Several other pigs died 

 some months ago from the same cause. — (January, 1906.) 



At the same time the cedar berries are not always poisonous to pigs — 

 either becaiise pigs do not often eat them, or because they do not feed 

 solely upon them. I believe that if pigs are, not allowed to get too hungry 

 there is not the slightest danger to be feared from this tree.. At the same 

 time, I admit that it would be desirable to make a careful inquiry in 

 regard to this very common tree, under the superintendence of a veterinary 

 surgeon. 



The Garden and Field of Adelaide, for September, gives the follovplng, which 

 occurred in South Australia : — ■" A White Cedar tree requiring pruning, the 

 surplus branches were cut off and thrown over the fence into a paddock. 

 Several pigs and cows picked ofC and ate the berries. The result was that 

 the pigs died and the cows became very ill, but recovered after three or four 

 days — one effect being a falling off in milk in the one day from half a bucket 

 to a cupful. Mr. Bagshaw was at first unable to account for the sudden death 

 of his pigs, but on cutting them open found the berries in their stomachs. Mr. 

 Hackett states that in some places pulp of the berries of the White Cedar is 

 used for poisoning dogs, being mixed with fat for the purpose." \Affrlc. Gax. 

 N.S.W., Nov., 1893, p. 853.) 



Dr. Burton Brown records a case in which a European girl ate the berries, 

 became insensible, and died. Descourtilz says that sis to eight seeds cause 

 nausea,* spasm, and cholera symptoms, sometimes followed by death. (Dic- 

 tionary of the Economic Products of India.) 



Waring (Pharmacopceia of India) says: — "Poisonous properties have been 

 attributed to the fresh berries and leaves." 



Mr. Thos. Loxton, Lower Portland, writes : — " Re article in July number 

 of the Gazette, entitled 'Alleged Poisonous Nature of White Cedar Berries,' 

 it may interest you to know that the farmers of the Hawkesbury River have 

 no doubt at all that the; White Cedar berry poisons pigs. I have myself lost 

 the best one of three sows this season, and the verdict of my neighbours is 

 that she was poisoned by cedar berries, which were lying thick on the ground. 

 She was the greediest feeder of the three, but the other two, which were 

 removed at once from the run, showed no symptoms of poisoning. One farmer 

 says that the seed forms a hard lump or lumps in the bowels, and thus lulls. 

 They do not seem to hurt birds, some varieties of which are very fond of 

 them, notably the green pigeon of the Richmond River, which, when these 

 berries are ripe, gets so fat and lazy as to be very easily shot." 



Mr. S. Pegum, Camperdown Farm, Browulow Hill, Camden, states: 



" Referring to the poisonous nature of the berries of the White Cedar, noted 

 in the July number of the Gazette, an Instance occurred here not long since 

 causing the death of twenty-seven fat pigs. A mob of pigs en route to Sydney, 

 having been three days on the road from Upper Burragorang, while waiting 

 to be trucked at Camden, were driven into a paddock close to the station, so 



