=Eradication of Poisonous Plants.= Wherever poisonous plants are found,
particularly in quantity, where they are liable to be eaten by live
stock, an attempt should be made to eradicate them. They may be simply
dealt with as weeds as may be necessary according to the species
concerned. When any difficulty is experienced in regard either to
determination of the species or to methods of eradication the advice of
the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries (Whitehall Place, London, S.W.)
should be requested. Stock should at once be removed from a suspected
pasture, which should be immediately and thoroughly examined by a
competent botanist. Harmful plants should be eradicated and their place
filled by better herbage.
=Treatment of Poisoned Animals.= This volume makes no pretensions to
deal with the veterinary treatment of cases of plant poisoning. Whenever
poisoning is suspected the services of a veterinary surgeon should be
sought without delay; the text books at his disposal will aid him in the
treatment of any case which presents unusual difficulties. The symptoms
indicated in the following pages, together with the possible discovery
of a suspected plant, may be utilised in diagnosis.
=Tests with Suspected Plants.= The action of plants on animals may be
ascertained (1) by observing the effects in cases in which it has been
established that the plants have been eaten, or (2) by direct
experimental feeding of animals with the plant. In the first case the
results may be accurate and satisfactory if observations have been made
from the outset.
As regards (2) the results may or may not be satisfactory according as
the plan pursued is sound or otherwise. For example, it cannot be
considered altogether reasonable and satisfactory to extract the
principles present in the plant, inject them into the blood stream, and
conclude from any ill effects that the animal may exhibit that the plant
is poisonous, since the substance extracted may be poisonous under such
conditions but little or not at all harmful when the plant is eaten in
the small quantities commonly taken by animals. Again, it cannot be held
satisfactory to feed an animal on a heavy and exclusive diet of the
suspected plant for a considerable period. The real test would, in
general, consist in a feeding trial in which the suspected plant
occupied a place in the ration in reasonable quantity—such a quantity as
might well be taken in natural circumstances, in view of its relative
abundance in regard to other food available; and if considered likely
that the plant would be eaten daily it may be fed regularly for some
days. Should such a test prove negative it may generally be held that
the plant is not poisonous, or only so in exceptional circumstances.
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