Coi,OKADo P1.ANTS Injurious to Livestock 
7 
g-anisms causing* this coloration. But microscopic examination re¬ 
veals the presence of millions of small plants. 
The question is often asked: Will the green scum found in the 
watering* tank or trough, in water drunk by stock, render the water 
poisonous? Although algae may give water an objectionable ap¬ 
pearance or odor, they do not render it poisonous either to stock or 
human beings. Furthermore, it is not at all probable that even de¬ 
caying algae injure the water to the extent of making it poisonous. 
However, on account of the objectionable odor that decompos¬ 
ing* algae impart to water and on account of their tendency to close 
up drains and pipes, it is often highly desirable to get rid of them. 
Algae are now quite easily prevented from growing in water by 
treatment with copper sulphate. 
Eradication .—Use i part of copper sulphate (blue vitriol) in 
I million parts of water. Practically, this treatment is best effected 
by placing a few pounds of the crystals of copper sulphate in a gunny 
sack, tying this behind a boat and rowing about the pond or reser¬ 
voir. Fifteen pounds of copper sulphate to i million gallons of water 
is a practical proportion. In the case of a water trough, through 
which water is steadily running, a small sack of copper sulphate sus¬ 
pended near the inlet will suffice to kill all green scum. If the water 
in the trough is not freely running in and out, the suspension, in 
the water, of a small sack of blue vitriol for a short time now and 
tlien throughout the season, will keep green scum from collecting. 
The small quantities of sulphate that go into solution are harmful 
to the algae, but do not injure livestock or human beings. 
FUNGI 
The fungi are an immense group of plants that vary widely in 
shape, size, color, and habits of living*. They do not have roots, 
stems, leaves, flowers, and seeds. They are rather simple in struc¬ 
ture and methods of reproduction. Probably the best known fungi 
are the molds on bread, fruit, and cheese, the rusts and smuts of the 
cereals, the toadstools and mushrooms, the mildews, and the fungi 
causing such well-known diseases as blight in potato, alfalfa leaf 
spot, leaf spot of strawberry, potato scab, leaf spot of beet, wilt of 
flax, etc. 
Some of the fungi work on the outside of the plant they infest, 
while others do their injury within. In most cases, the conspicuous 
part of the fungus is the spore-bearing stage. 
Poisoning by fungi. —Man}^ plants of this group are poisonous 
for animals. There is a disease which has been variously named by 
different investigators, practitioners and others, as food poisoning, 
forage poisoning, mold poisoning, blind stagger, sleepy stagger, 
cerebrospinal meningitis, etc., that has been known for a century at 
least and has caused widespread devastation among* animals. The 
