Show LAB SrUR rOiSUNI G m I THE t N ATlmlAl FOREST Government Making an Effort to DIs cover Antidote and Thus Save Cattlemen Heavy Losses rho losses to thu cattlemen in the western status fiom larkspur pols onlng cery year have been HO seri ous that the government Is making A vigorous effort to Hud an antidote for the poison us well as to cradl rato tho plant Itself In tho Ounnlsoii national forest Colorado the losses to tho stockmen last season from larkspur were con torvatlvoly estimated to equal almost B per cent ot tho total number ol rattle grazed upon that forest Its effects are almost Immediate Death follows tho eating of tho plant within a few hours For this reason remedies are of little avail because the animals are generally dead be ore they are discovered Experts from the bureau of plant industry In coopeiatlon with tho for I est service have mado careful and painstaking Investigations In the Held with a view of lessening the losses as far as possible while several sev-eral different plans have been tried In hopes of completely destroying the plant Larkspur grows very luxuriantly lathe la-the early spring On tho flunnlson forest In June 1900 the forest officers of-ficers counted mote than 1300 plants in blossom upon a single square lint The plant seems to bo more poisonous poison-ous In hot damp weather than In dry seasons and It has been observed that when the ground Is hard and dry so that in eating It tho stems breal off leaving the roots In the ground It Is not so deadly in Its effects ef-fects Since certain areas are well known to bo badly Infested with larkspur the stockmen have been In the habit of herding their cattle from such places As far as possible these areas will be fenced by tho forest bervlce On other areas whore It Is not so plentiful the plants will bo dug out by the forest rangers and also mowed off to prevent seeding again It has also been found that the t nntwlll not ° hold ltsown against certain kinds of grasses such as timothy tim-othy A few acres sowed In timothy are being carefully watched and It Is believed that It is crowding the larkspur lark-spur out It seems probablo that by sowing timothy on the mountain meadows the larkspur could bo grad Vitally smothered and replaced by a nlnablo forage Plant If this plan Is supported by good evidence tMs season timothy will bo extensively sowed later on Meanwhile Mean-while upon this as well as several other national forests where the losses from this plant are very sort cus tho building of fences to keep the cattle off the most dangerous areas Is being pushed by tho forest service and will bo continued as fast ns funds are available for tho purpose pur-pose poseMr J C Thomas of Crawford Colorado Col-orado made an experiment In feeding feed-ing the larkspur some years ago to determine If possible Just what part of the plant contained the poisonous properties A yearling steer was fed ji large quantity of tho leaves with no Injurious results A few days later the same animal was fed a quantity of the roots and within ten hours It was dead thus justifying the suspicion that the poisonous matter was contained in tho root |