Show THE NOOK FOREST MIST government mak nal ng an effort to DIs cover ant dote and thus save cattlemen heavy losses the losses to the cattlemen in the western states from larkspur pois aning every 3 ear have been so serf ous that the government Is making A t vigorous effort to find an antidote for the poison a ae mell as to bradl rate cate the plant itself in the gunnison Gunn isoa art ional forest colorado the losses to the stockmen last season from larl spur were con estimated to equal almost r per cent of the total number of cattle grazed upon that forest its effects are almost immediate death follows the eating of the plant within a few hours for this reason remedies are of little avail because the animals are generally dead be lore fore they are discovered expel ts from the bureau of plant industry in operation cooperation co with the for est service han hae e made careful and pain stal ing investigations in the feld feid with a view of lessening the losses as far as possible while sev eral cral different plans have been tried in hopes of completely destroying tha the plant larkspur grows very luxuriantly in the early spring 0 on the gunnison Gunn lson forest in june 1906 the forest of fibers counted more than 1300 1 plants in blossom upon a single square rod the plant seems to be more 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 the stems break off leaving the roots in the tile ground it Is not so deadly in its ef facts since certain areas are well known 0 o be badly infested with larkspur the stockmen have been in the habit r f herding their cattle from suet places As far as possible these areas will be fenced by the forest service on other areas where it ic 1 not so plentiful the plants will be b 3 ig out by the forest rangers and ilso also off to prevent seeding again it has also been found that the plant will not hold its own against certain kinds of grasses such as tim othy A few acres sowed in timothy are being carefully watched and it ic 1 delleves oell Dell eved that it Is crowding the lark spur out it seems probable that by sowing timothy on the mountain meadows the larkspur could be grad nally smothered and replaced by a valuable forage plant alf if this plan Is supported by good ovi evidence dence this season timothy will be extensively sowed later on mean while upon this as well as several other national forests where the losses from this plant are very serf seri CUE cus the building of fences to keep the cattle off the most dangerous areas is being pushed by the forest service and will be continued as fast as funds are available for the pur pose mr J C thomas of crawford col orado made an experiment in teed feed ing the larkspur some years ago to determine if possible just what part f the plant contained the poisonous properties A yearling steer was fed j 1 large quantity of the leaves with DO 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 matte was contained in the root |