7 
Larkspur and Other Poisonous Plants. 
CONDITIONS UNDER WHICH POISONOUS PLANTS ARE EATEN. 
Most poisonous plants are bitter and are avoided by animals. 
When confined to a certain range and not interfered with, they 
learn to avoid them, but are frequently poisoned while being moved 
from one locality to another. When an animal is hungry it will 
eat weeds that it would not otherwise touch. While driving the 
held at the time of the roundup or to market they will be seen 
reaching for the tops of weeds that at other times would not be 
molested. It is a matter of common observation that the greatest 
amount of poisoning occurs under these conditions, and the rea¬ 
sons assigned are that animals when driven for some distance be¬ 
come ravenously hungry and have not time to make the same 
choice of forage plants as when at rest. 
The time of greatest danger is during or immediately after a 
rain or snow storm in the spring months. Alfalfa, whether green 
or cured, is known to be much more dangerous for cattle and 
sheep when wet from rain or dew. This seems to be the case with 
some poisonous plants, especially larkspur. The explanation most 
commonly proposed for this phenomenon, however, is that when 
the ground is wet the roots are more readily pulled and eaten, and 
being much more poisonous, the danger is enhanced. 
COMMON salt AS A PREVENTIVE AND ALKALI AS A SUBSTITUTE. 
There seems to be a diversity of opinion among stock raisers 
as to whether alkali, which is found in abundance in many sections 
of the State, is a complete substitute for common salt. There 
are several reputable stockmen on the Western Slope, whose suc¬ 
cess in business recommends their judgment, that have not salted 
their cattle for several years, and claim that in withholding the salt 
they lessen the liability to poisoning, and cattle at least do just as 
well without it. On the other hand, equally as responsible parties 
hold that, if salt is not supplied, the animals develop a taste for 
acrid plants, and thus the danger is increased. 
While we have no definite information at hand bearing upon 
this subject, it would seem that from a physiological standpoint 
alkali, which is mostly sulfate of soda, sulfate of magnesium, and 
carbonate of soda, would in a measure take the place of common 
salt, which is chlorid of sodium, but could not entirely do so. The 
assumption that lack of salt in some form causes animals to more 
readily partake of noxious weeds seems entirely reasonable. 
The drinking of alkali water is said to cause the death of 
cattle and sheep, with symptoms much like poisoning from larkspur. 
The reason for this assumption is due in a large measure to the 
fact that when animals are poisoned from various weeds they im- 
