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Show I1RRSPUR POISOKIHG f "' THE IIAT11 FOREST Government Making fn Effort to Discover Dis-cover Antidote, and Thas 8ave Cattlemen Heavy Losses. Tho losvos to tho cattlemen In the western state's from larkspur poisoning pois-oning every yuur havo been so serious seri-ous that tho government Is making :i vigorous effort to find an nntldoto for thn poison, as well as to cradl-tale cradl-tale the plant Itself, In tho UunnlBOn national forest, Colorado, tho losses to the stockmen last season from larkspur wcro con- t-arvnttvely estimated to equal almost r, per cent of tho total number of rnttle grazed upon that forest. Its effects an) almost Immediate, Death follows tho eating of tho plant within a few. hours. For this reason remedies nro ot llttlo avail, becauso the animals aro generally dead be-lore be-lore they aro discovered. Experts from tho bureau of plant Industry, In co-operation with tho for-tst for-tst service, havo made carcrul and painstaking Investigations In tho Held, with a view ot lessening tho losses as far as pouslblo, whllo several sev-eral dlfforcnl planB havo been tried In hopes of completely destroying lira plant. Larkspur grows very luxuriantly In tho early spring. On tho Ounnlson lorest In June, 1900, the forest of-fleers of-fleers counted more than 1,300 plants In blosaom upon a slnglo Bquaro rod. Tho plant seems to bo moro poisonous poison-ous In hot, damp weather than In dry seasons, and It has been observed thnt when tho ground Is hard nnd dry, so that In eating It the stems break off, leaving tho roots In tho ground, It Is not so deadly In Its effects. ef-fects. Slnco certain areas are woll known lo bo badly Infested with larkspur, tho stockmen hnvo been in tho habit ot herding their cattle trom such places. As far as posBlblo, thcso nreas will ho fenced by tho forest kcrvlco. On other areas whoro It Is not so plentiful tiro plants will bo dug out by tho forest rangors, and nlso mowed off to provont seeding pgaln. It has nlso been found that tho plant will not hold Its own against certain kinds of grassoa, such ns timothy. tim-othy. A few acres, sowed In timothy, aro bolng carofully watched and It Is bcllovcd that It Is crowding tho larkspur lark-spur out. It seems probablo that by sowing timothy on tho mountain meadows tho larkspur could bo gradually grad-ually smothered and roplnccd hy n valuable forago plant. If this plan Is supportod by good cvldenco this Bcason, timothy will bo extensively sowed later on. Meanwhile Mean-while upon this, nB well aa soveral other national forests whoro tho losses from this plant are vory sort-cus, sort-cus, the building of fences to keep tho cattle pff tho most dnngoroua areas Is being pushod by the forest rorvlec, and will bo continued as fast ns funds are available for tho purpose. pur-pose. Mr. J. C. Thomas or Crawrord, Col-(i.Tido, Col-(i.Tido, mado nn experiment In reeding reed-ing tho larkBpur somo years ago to determine, it passible, Just what part of tho plant contained tho poisonous properties. A yearling steer was fed i. largo quantity of tho leaves, with no Injurious results. A few days lator, tho same animal was fed a quantity ot tho roots, and within ten ltours It was dead, thus Justifying the fnisplclon that tho poisonous matter was eontatned In tho root. |