just as early as possible in the morning. When a sheep beds down at night it is usually full and contented. By morning it is beginning to get rather empty, and the longer it is kept on the bed-ground the hungrier it becomes; it is then far more apt to be poisoned when it gets out on the range where the death camas is growing.

In most cases of death camas poisoning so far observed, the animals were poisoned during the forenoon. This is due to the fact that the palatability of the plant decreases as the stomach becomes full. Thus a plant which may seem to be highly palatable and to be relished during the morning hours frequently is not touched later in the day. This is quite true of the death camas. It is grazed chiefly during the early morning hours, and is seldom touched when the stomach begins to be full. Therefore it is highly important that the sheep should be so handled during the early morning hours that they will have the greatest freedom in the selection of their range forage; if possible, during this part of the morning they should be grazed on range free from death camas, or where it has only a scattering growth.

In Nevada the prevailing method of handling sheep, especially in the spring of the year, is to establish a main camp from which the sheep are grazed daily until all the feed in the immediate vicinity of the camp has been eaten out for a radius of two or three miles. This necessitates long daily trailing back and forth in order to get from range that has already been grazed to fresh feed. Thus the sheep trail over the same ground each day until all the forage on the range around the bed-ground is completely eaten off. This method of handling can only result in all plants being eaten, whether poisonous or not; for the most palatable ones are first grazed, and as these plants are removed the less palatable ones are left to be grazed including, of course, the death camas. In order to avoid losses resulting from these improper methods of handling sheep, they should be allowed to bed down wherever they happen to be when night comes. They will then always be on fresh feed in the morning. The variety of forage from which to choose will be much greater and the chance of poisoning will be greatly reduced, providing the animals are gotten off the bedground early in the morning and are allowed to spread out to graze openly and quietly, each ewe with her lamb. Close-bunched grazing, running. trailing, and massing should never be allowed, not only in order to keep the losses down, but also for the good of the ewe and her lamb and for the most full and effective use of the range forage.

After a sheep has been deprived of salt for a week or ten days it develops an abnormal or depraved appetite, with the result that it will eat many plants which ordinarily it would never touch. Therefore it is of the greatest importance that sheep be regularly and abundantly salted, so that the appetite will remain normal and the tendency to eat obnoxious or poisonous plants will be reduced. This means that they should have salt every day, and if it is not practical to salt daily, salt should be supplied at least every three days. A sheep under ordinary range conditions will eat approximately 11⁄2 ounce of salt per day, or 3 pounds per day to every hundred head. This does not make any allowance for waste, which, of course, varies according to the manner in which the salt is distributed to the sheep.

LUPINES

(Lupinus Spp.)

The lupines in Nevada are known by various common names, being improperly called blue bean, wild bean, wild alfalfa, blue pea.

Description of the Plant.

The lupines belong to the pea family, and are erect plants from six inches to three feet high, depending upon the species, the altitude, the soil, and moisture conditions. Most of the species in Nevada grow year after year from the same heavy deep-set roots, which produce several stems, the leaves of which are long stemmed and are divided into from four to fifteen small leaf divisions, all spreading from the end of the one leaf stalk. The flowers are borne in long clusters and are shaped like those of a pea. The colors are various shades of blue,

Figure 8. Showing the arrangement of the leaflets of the lupine on the left and a typical leaf of the loco on the right.

white, pink, or yellow. The pods contain one or more seeds and are usually covered by a growth of many small gray hairs. This hairy growth also is usually found on the upper surface of the leaves, giving the plant a typical grayish appearance. The lupine plant may be found in blossom from early summer until late fall. The largest number of flowers, however, are produced during July and August. A typical lupine plant is shown in Plate III.

Distribution and Habitat.

The lupine is one of the most widely and abundantly distributed of all the weeds or showy flowering plants found on the ranges of Nevada. It is found on practically all the low elevations and grows to an alti

tude of 10,000 feet. It grows on all types of soil, except those which are excessively wet or dry.

Plants Commonly Mistaken for Lupine.

The lupine is frequently confused by many stockmen with several plants, the most common of which is loco. However, the lupine may be readily distinguished by the arrangement of the leaflets, as shown in Figure 8, where they all arise from the end of the stem, while in the case of the loco the leaflets are arranged along the main axis of the leaf with one odd leaflet borne at the end.

Animals Which Are Poisoned.

Under certain range conditions this plant may be poisonous to all classes of stock. However, the heaviest losses take place when sheep graze upon it after the seeds have been formed within the pods. Horses are very found of lupine, but in order to be poisoned they must graze exclusively upon it for a rather prolonged period; this seldom occurs on the open range. It is not grazed with any degree of eagerness by cattle, yet losses have been reported on certain ranges in the late fall where this plant was the only one to be found on the range. Lupine poisons very few horses and cattle under Nevada conditions.

Sheep will always graze upon the grasses and succulent weeds before eating lupine. However, in the fall of the year when the other feed is becoming scarce and what little is left is dry, the lupine is usually still green and in pod. Sheep then graze upon it with disastrous

results.

It seems that the lupine becomes more palatable after it has been frosted, but usually by this time of the year most of the seeds have dropped to the ground and of course there is then little or no danger from poisoning. Under such range conditions before sheep are allowed to graze on lands where lupine is common it should be carefully examined to see that it has no seeds in its pods. If there are still seeds in the pods, the sheep should not be allowed to graze upon it unless there are other plants on the range which will be eaten in preference to it.

All over Nevada there is a small weevil which feeds in the pods of the lupine and destroys the seeds. The pods may look as though they contain seeds, but upon close examination they are found to be seedless and of course the chances of poisoning taking place are very slight.

Parts of the Plant Which Are Poisonous.

Under certain range conditions which have not been definitely determined the leaves and the tops of the lupine plant have been known to cause death. However, the majority of the losses on the range have taken place after the lupine plant has blossomed and produced its seeds. (See Figure 9.)

In most cases after a sheep has eaten a large amount of the pods and seeds, it does not chew its cud before the typical poisoning symptoms appear. However, after the symptoms do appear the animal. poisoned may die in a very short time or it may linger for one or more days before succumbing or getting entirely well. Thus, sheep may feed on a lupine patch one day and yet they may not be sick until the next day, when they may be grazing on country entirely free from any

or all poisonous plants. This accounts for the fact that losses often are reported on a range entirely free from all recognized poisonous plants. A question that often bothers the range man is: How can a band of sheep graze and fill up on lupines at one time with no ill effects; yet at another time when they do the same thing heavy losses follow? This may be explained by the fact that the poison from the lupine is excreted by the kidneys and is thrown off as soon as it is liberated; in order to cause death or ill effects the animal must get

Figure 9. A lupine plant in full pod. When the plant is in this stage most of the losses from poisoning take place.

more of the poison at one time than it can cast off immediately, with the result that the excess of poison is left in the system, causing the typical lupine symptoms and possibly death.

Amount of the Plant Necessary to Cause Death.

The amount of the plant that must be eaten before death will take place is an extremely variable quantity due to (1) the individuality of the animal; (2) the weight and general health of the animal; (3) the

species of plant that the lupines are associated with; (4) the condition of the stomach of the animal when the lupine is eaten; and (5) the kind of lupine eaten.

The most accurate feeding tests so far made show that it takes from 4 pound to 1⁄2 pound of the seed to cause active acute poisoning or death in a sheep weighing approximately 100 pounds, and about 12 pounds of the pods and seeds to produce the same serious effects. Very rarely are any animals poisoned by eating the leaves and stems, although some losses from this source have been reported.

Symptoms.

Probably the most common symptom of lupine poisoning is the manner in which the animal breathes. In acute cases of poisoning the animal breathes with difficulty and there is usually a frothing at the mouth. During these periods of difficult breathing it will throw itself about violently with great mental excitement, often running in no

Figure 10. Sheep in first stages of lupine poisoning.

definite direction, bumping into other anmals in the flock or against any obstruction that may happen to be in its way, such as brush, trees, or large rocks. When the roof of the mouth is examined a typical blue appearance is usually seen. A large number of animals die during these periods of extremely difficult breathing which make the animal appear as though it were in violent convulsions. On the other hand, some of the animals may go into a very deep sleep from which they never awaken. In less acute cases of poisoning the breathing is very labored and the animal may stand or lie down in a condition of deep sleep. The drooping of the ears is another typical symptom, usually accompanied by the animal pushing or butting its head against other near-by animals or objects. After an animal has passed through one of these periods of extremely difficult and labored breathing it often stands trembling all over. Figures 10, 11, 12, 13