76 PASTURE AND RANGE. 
dren and even by adults, who mistake them for the arom- 
atic roots of harmless plants. 
During May and June, 1900, Chesnut and Wilcox noted 
in Montana thirty-six cases of Water Hemlock poisoning 
among cattle, and one hundred and five among sheep. 
Thirty of the cattle and fifty of the sheep died. The 
poisoning occurs under various circumstances. Chesnut 
states that the seeds are sufficiently poisonous to cause 
loss when the mature plant is cut and fed with hay, but 
Marsh believes that this is a mistake. However this may 
be, there is no doubt of the poisonous character of the 
root and young shoot. Cases have been reported of 
horses killed by eating the roots upturned by the plow. 
Animals have also been reported to have been poisoned, 
especially in the spring, by drinking water from wet 
places where the Water Hemlock grew. The poison was 
considered to have got into the water from the juices of 
the roots crushed by the trampling of the animals them- 
selves. Cases of poisoning by the young shoots are also 
on record. Although the stem and leaves of the mature 
_ plant contain little poison, it has been repeatedly proved 
‘ that the young plant, six inches or so in height, contains 
it in sufficient quantity to be a source of much danger. 
This early spring stage is especially attractive when 
other green stuff is scarce, and the ground being wet at 
this season of the year the roots are readily pulled up 
by the grazing animal, and form an added menace. We 
are indebted to Dr. C. D. McGilvray, now Principal of the 
Ontario Veterinary College, for the details of an interest- 
ing case of stock poisoning by this spring growth of the 
Water Hemlock. It came under his observation when he 
was stationed at Winnipeg. Twenty-one head of cattle 
were turned out to pasture between 9 and 10 a.m. and at 
