STOCK-POISONING PLANTS OF THE RANGE. 
21 
possibility that they may become locoed a second time, with worse 
results than at first. 
If the animals are valuable enough to justify the time spent in 
treating them, their recovery will be hastened, in the case of horses, 
by daily doses of 15 to 20 cubic centimeters (4 to 6 drams) of Fowlers 
solution, while cattle may be given hypodermic injections of 
strychnin. These doses should be continued for at least a month. 
Care should be taken in the use of strychnine, as locoed animals are 
very sensitive to its use. It is better that doses for cattle should 
not exceed three-twentieths or four-twentieths of a grain. Never, in 
the case of a large animal, should more than one-half grain be given. 
In the case of locoed sheep upon the range, if the number is small, 
it is not profitable to spend any time or trouble with them. It is 
better to slaughter them immediately, as a locoed sheep will teach 
others the same habit. 
If, however, a number 
of locoed sheep can be 
separated and, like the 
cattle, be turned into 
an alfalfa field, most of 
them are likely to re- 
cover. Sheep may be 
helped by doses of one- 
twentieth g r a i n of 
strychnine, but ordina- 
rily, on account of the 
small value of individ- 
ual animals, it is not 
profitable to spend the 
time which is necessary 
to insure their recovery. 
In handling animals 
in a loco country it 
should be remembered that all domestic animals are more or less 
imitative, and loco eaters are likely to teach others to do the same 
thing. Therefore, so far as possible, all animals that have acquired 
the habit of loco eating should be separated from the others. 
THE BUCKTHORN FAMILY (RHAMNACE^]). 
^^^^^^^BBl -^^ 
■ 
m~* - r*' 
f^X&UHQt* 
Fig. 17.- 
-Locoed horses in western Nebraska, showing 
lack of muscular coordination. 
COYOTILLO (Karwinskia humboldtiana) . 
The coyotillo (KarwinsMa humboldtiana) is a shrub growing in 
southwestern Texas which is known to be poisonous, although very 
little experimental work has been done upon it. In Figure 18 is 
shown the plant at the time of blossoming in early May. and Plate 
XXIV shows the form of the leaves and the fruit. The leaves are 
only slightly poisonous and the pulp of the fruit not at all. The 
seeds are very poisonous and affect all domestic animals. The earliest 
reports were of the poisoning of goats. A paralytic condition is 
produced, affecting especially the hind quarters, the disease in cattle 
being known as " limber leg." Cases of serious poisoning of children 
have also been reported. 
82963°— 24 3 
