STOCK-POISONING PLANTS OF MONTANA.

GENERAL INTRODUCTION.

STOCK INDUSTRY OF MONTANA.

Montana is a typical grazing State. Long before it was so closely connected by its two great railway systems, the Northern Pacific and Great Northern, with the more settled regions to the east and west, its wide open ranges were a favorite ground for hunting herbivorous animals. Immense herds of elk, deer, and buffalo then roved over its grassy plains and mountain sides. These animals have gradually been almost wholly exterminated from the State, and now in their place there are hundreds of thousands of horses, cattle, and sheep, which are being bred or fattened by their owners for profit, advantage being taken of the permitted free use of the large areas of public domain which the State still contains.

The enormous growth of the stock industry of the State may be illustrated from the comparative statistics for sheep, the data for which have, perhaps, been most accurately secured in the different States. According to the census of 1880, the States which held the largest number of sheep were in their order, Iowa, Illinois, Ohio, and Missouri. The sheep were for the most part kept on farms. The aggregate number on farms was about 35,000,000, the number ranging on the public domain was approximately 7,000,000, and those otherwise held numbered 3,000,000, making a total of over 45,000,000. On July 1, 1900, the total aggregate number of sheep in the United States was reported by the Division of Statistics of the Department of Agriculture to be nearly 42,000,000. The States which then contained the largest holdings were in the order of their numbers, New Mexico and Montana, each with nearly 4,000,000; Wyoming and Ohio, each with nearly 3,000,000; and, with holdings of over 2,000,000 each, Idaho, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Colorado, and California. New Mexico, although the leading State in the number of sheep possessed, ranked only fourth with respect to money value. Montana, the second State, with regard to numbers, ranked first as to value, the total holdings amounting to a little over $11,000,000. The holdings in Ohio aggregated about $10,500,000, and New Mexico about $8,500,000. Oregon,

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Idaho, Utah, Colorado, and California, each held over $5,000,000 worth of sheep. The total value of these sheep throughout the United States on January 1, 1900, was estimated to be $122,665,913. At as recent a date as 1870 there were, according to the third annual report of the board of sheep commissioners of Montana, for 1899, but 4,212 sheep in the State. In 1880 there were 249,978. In 1890 the number had increased to 1,555,116, and now it is about 4,000,000.

OCCASION AND AIDS OF THE PRESENT INVESTIGATION.

Notwithstanding the great advantages of which the stock-raising industry of the State can boast, it has to contend with a few drawbacks. Two of these come within the domain of botany and agriculture. They are, first, the existence on the feeding grounds of great quantities of certain poisonous plants which, as the table given on page 34 will show, are sometimes eaten extensively with fatal effect; and, second, the difficulty of producing sufficient hay to keep the animals in good condition over winter. The latter difficulty has recently been considered by Prof. Robert S. Shaw in Bulletin 21 of the Montana experiment station. The former has already been considered to a certain extent by one of us, Dr. E. V. Wilcox, in Bulletins 15 and 22 of the same station.

Much attention has also been and is still being given to the subject; especially from the chemical standpoint, by Dr. F. W. Traphagen, chemist of the Montana station, and by his assistants; and from the veterinary standpoint by Dr. M. E. Knowles, of Helena, the State veterinarian, and his associates.

This report gives the results of a short preliminary investigation which was inaugurated at the urgent solicitation of the State board of sheep commissioners of Montana and warmly seconded by the State experiment station as well as by individual stockmen throughout the State. It is a pleasure for us to refer with thankful appreciation to the hearty cooperation which was given us by the various members of the station staff, including especially Director S. M. Emery, Prof. F. W. Traphagen, Prof. J. W. Blankinship, Prof. Robert S. Shaw, and Prof. W. M. Cobleigh. To the last we are indebted for all but two or three of the photographs reproduced in this report. Professor Traphagen and Professor Blankinship not only gave us the free use of their libraries and laboratories, but also furnished us with material and their personal assistance as well as many valuable suggestions. To Dr. P. A. Rydberg, of the New York Botanical Garden, we are indebted for the final identification of the plants noted in the report.

It is especially pleasing to refer to the generous assistance which was received from the stockmen. Hon. T. C. Power took every occasion to notify them of our presence in the State and to request reports from them concerning any case of possible poisoning. Many letters of

introduction were furnished by this gentleman, and also by Dr. M. E. Knowles, which rendered possible a rapid and satisfactory survey of the conditions in different parts of the State. It would have been impossible to see in the time at our disposal so much of the range country of Montana without the generous assistance of these gentlemen, and of Messrs. S. M. Emery and Cornelius Hedges. In all parts of the State stockmen gladly accompanied us in studying the actual conditions where poisoning had taken place, or, where it was impossible for ranch owners to go on such trips, conveyances were freely furnished for our use. In a number of instances the stockmen were sufficiently interested to be willing to furnish sheep for feeding experiments with poisonous plants. Among these stockmen to whom we are especially indebted in the ways just indicated mention may be made of the following: W. W. Beasley, G. M. Beasley, A. E. Bower, G. C. Bower, F. I. Bower, Frank Conely, Walter Cooper, G. P. Christian, P. B. Christian, Daniel Floweree, W. C. Gillette, L. H. Hamilton, Dr. H. Holloway, S. S. Hobson, Edward A. Kimpton, C. Kohrs, J. B. Long, M. M. Jenson, J. L. B. Mayer, J. T. Murphy, I. D. O'Donnell, C. H. Perrine, McC. Winiger, F. Pool, B. E. Stack, James Vestal, F. Warren, J. F. Woolman, and Mr. Warden of Augusta.

ITINERARY.

In the course of our investigations of the stock-poisoning plants of Montana we visited every county of the State, both of the mountains and the plains. The greater part of the time, however, was spent in Fergus, Cascade, Teton, Park, Sweet Grass, and Yellowstone counties. The distance covered by the different trips in the field aggregated something more than 7,000 miles. Along the line of the Northern Pacific Railroad the following localities were visited: Wibaux, Glendive, Miles City, Forsyth, Huntley, Billings, Laurel, Joliet, Red Lodge, Greycliff, Bigtimber, Livingston, Coalspur, Muir, Chesnut, Bozeman, Belgrade, Logan, Townsend, Helena, Garrison, Deerlodge, Drummond, Bearmouth, Missoula, and Plains; along the course of the Montana Railroad: Merino, Martinsdale, Dorsey, Lombard; on the line of the Great Northern Railway: Glasgow, Havre, Shelby Junetion, Baltic, Cutbank, Summit, Columbia Falls, Kalispell, Fort Benton, Great Falls, Cascade, and Craig. From each of these points drives or horseback trips of from 10 to 150 miles were made into the surrounding country. From Great Falls a trip was made across country through Belt, Geyser, Stanford, Utica, Ubet, Oka, Hopley, and Martinsdale. From Craig a trip was made by means of stage and private conveyance to Augusta and the mountain ranges lying between the forks of the Sun River. These trips by wagon or horseback occupied from 1 to 15 days each and rendered possible a S. Doc. 160—2

thorough inspection of the general range conditions in those parts of the State which are best adapted to stock raising. In general, the most thorough study was made of ranges where serious losses of stock had occurred during the season of 1900 or previous seasons, especially where the stockmen manifested a lively interest in the investigation and requested a visit to their ranges. Numerous requests were received by letter or telegram to make such visits, and all such requests were heeded if time permitted, for the reason that it was considered highly desirable to see as many cases as possible under natural conditions and thus to be able to note the symptoms of poisoning and the special circumstances of each case. The stockmen took such interest in making prompt notifications of cases of poisoning that many exceptional opportunities were had for observing cattle, horses, and sheep poisoned by different plants. In some cases it was impossible to reach the locality in time to observe the early symptoms, but in a majority of the cases which are recorded in this report the symptoms and circumstances of poisoning were studied in the field at first hand.

GENERAL RANGE CONDITIONS.

SUMMER AND WINTER RANGES FOR SHEEP.

The majority of sheep raisers in the State are so situated that a part of their range is of the nature of treeless prairie while another part lies on the foothills or lower slopes of the mountains. Frequently the different tracts of range belonging to a single sheep raiser are not contiguous and it is therefore necessary to drive the sheep for short distances in order to move them from one range to another. The prevailing practice of sheep men is so to manage the grazing of the sheep upon the range that the sheep will be able to find the best possible pasture during the greater part of the year. In the early days of stock raising in the State the sheep men did not, as a rule, provide forage in the form of hay for the inclement weather of winter, but were apparently willing to take chances with their sheep under such climatic conditions as might develop. It was evidently of prime importance in this system of management that a portion of the range be reserved in good condition for winter grazing.

range

During recent years the sheep men of the State have realized more and more fully the importance of cutting large quantities of hay for feeding during the time when the ground may be covered with snow. The same custom still prevails, however, of dividing the into a summer and winter range. As a general rule the ewe bands are held near the home ranch during the lambing season and until after shearing, when all the sheep are taken to the foothills or mountain ranges. It may be said, therefore, that sheep are held on the open prairie ranges during the winter and spring, while the mountain ranges