150 



that they might rest under the shade of some White Cedars growing there. 

 Some of tlie pigs lay down to rest, else all might have died: others com- 

 menced feeding on the berries scattered around under the trees, with the 

 result that twenty-seven were dead next morning when the train arrived in 

 Sydney. The dead pigs belonged to different owners, some to the man in 

 charge, wh(.i was wanting in neither experience, forethought, nor intelligence, 

 having shipped some thousands of pigs to Sydney at different times, and 

 though reared almost within sight of these cedar trees was not aware of the 

 jjoisouous nature of their berries, and -I think very few are; so to let the fact 

 be well known would undoubtedly be a public service. As they form desirable 

 shade trees, with pleasing foliage and flowers, and are quicli growers, farmers 

 and muniicipalities, unaware of the toxic properties of their berries, may lie 

 induced to plant them, and injury residt." (Aiirk: Ga~. \.S.W., Sept., 1890. 

 p. 5G4.) 



In connection with the " Alleged Poisonous Nature of White Cedar Berries," 

 we have ,1ust received the following letter from Mr. Edward Gibson, of Figtree, 

 near Wollongong: — ''I saw a question asked in the last Ar/ricultiiral Gazette 

 as to whether any of your readers had ever had any pigs poisoned with White 

 Cedar berries. About tweh-e years ago, when I lived at Dapto, I liad thirty 

 or forty store ])igs in the pig paddock. The gate into the pig paddock was by 

 MMue means left open, and the pigs got into an adjoining paddock where the 

 were a lot of White Cedar trees, the seeds of which were lying thick on the 

 ground. When I went to fetch the pigs home, five or six died on the way. 

 and six more died when they came to the house. We did not know at all what 

 was the cause of the mortality at the time, so I opened one of them and 

 found its stomach full of the berries. After that we ringbarked the trees 

 and destroyed all the berries on the ground, with the result that altliough 

 the pigs were running in the paddock afterwards we never had any more 

 deaths from that cause." (Aurii: Go,:. A.,s'.lT'., Oct.. !«)(;, ]i. (i(;2.) 



Mr. S. I'egum, of Camperdown Farm, Brownlow Hill, Camden, writing on 

 this subject, says: — 



"Three small pigs ate some White Cedar berries. They soon after became 

 very ill, unable to stand or mu\-e, heart beating feebly, with occasional spas- 

 modic shudderings, apparently in a forward direction: limbs cold, eyes weil 

 open, but not fixed or staring. Being of opinion that the.^- were poisoned b.v 

 the prussic acid contained in the kernels of the hemes, for experiment, I took 

 one of the pi.gs who seemed at the time in e.rt re litis (could not raise a squeak 

 even), and treated him accordingly, viz., ]iut him at once into a warm bath, 

 and as soon ms it could be got ready, gave the whites of two eggs beaten up 

 and a full teaspoon of baking soda in some warm milk and ginger. Then put 

 him Into a sugar bag with a warm brick and left him for the night well 

 covered up, nice and snug, in a warm jilace. All this time, if he was not 

 'as dead at .Julius C;esar,' he was quite as vmable to stand or mow. being 

 quite passive to all the treatment, which did not take many minutes, neither 

 squeaking nor kicking. I do not know how long it took him, to get well, but 

 in the morning he was quite recovered, and what with the bath, &r., he looked 

 none the worse for the trouble, being able to run about and eat as usual. The 

 other two pigs died, i'^xamination showed that they had eaten about a small 

 panuikinful of the berries, which were crunched and scarci'ly at all digested 

 ( \iiyie. (l(i~. ,V..V.1t'., Oct., 1S1I7, pp. 700-1.) 



Mr. 1'. n. Jlorton. ;M.P., has informed nu- of two separate cases of the death 

 of pigs (one lot travelling) thro\igli eating White Cedar berries in the Mus- 

 wellbrook district. (Agrii: Gu.z. X.H.W., July, ISOS, p. Til.) 



Timber. — Thi,-. timber is conrse, soft, and easily worked, but not in very 

 good repute. At the same time, it is used in country districts. For example, 

 it has been used for pedestals of tables at Taree; also for mouldings and 

 architraves. It was at one tinic used for shingles, which are, however, of 

 an inferior kind. 



The rings in New South Wales specimens are very distiuctj and their 

 markings give the timber a rich, wavy appearance, which is best exhibited 

 in a vertical s(!ctioii. The wood is a pale yellowish-brown, which appears 

 of a rich 1 warm browu under polish. 



