Centre Democrat. [volume] (Bellefonte, Pa.) 1848-1989, 1880-10-07
BLUEGRASS HORSES.
The Wonderful HesuIts Of Feeding
Horses ON Kentucky ssrnss

A correspondent of the New York
EUenino Fost, writing from Frankfort,
KY, says: The first Kentuckian ever
spoke TO on his native heath was coun-
try druggist. who was busily compound
ing quinine into pills for the Irelief of
the ague-stricken inhabitants OF George.
town. He saw that / was a stranger.
Kentucky is a great State" he sug-
gested, patriotically. And is noted-?"
l answered, inguiringly. "For three
ings." said he, women whisky and
Eorses-blue-grass women, bluegrass
| whisky and bluegrass horses" Since
/ then / have met some thousands OF
Kentuckians and have known some
hundreds intimately, out have yet TO
find the one who has not at some time
during the course OF our acquaintance
told me in some way or other, boldly or
timidly, humbly or proudly, that Ken
lucky is noted for three things-women,
whisky and horses-blue- grass women,
bluegrass whisky, bluegrass horses.
Bl ue grass, as an adjective, is in til
Kentucky dialect a synonym for the
natives use it in the same manner as the
names of famous vintagcs OF wine are
employed in tue south OF Francois
terms OF affection and respect. AS "A
noun, blue grass is the popular name of
a superior kind Of pasture growth which
attains in Kentucky peculiar degree of
perfection, and whose presence is the
source cf no small part of the States fame
and wealth. Poa pratenses is what the
botanist call it. June grass is the name
it bears in New England. The sobri-
quet under which it appears in Ken
| tucky owes its origin to the blue hue
which the grass assumes during its
| Towering time in the early summer. Its
presence is an indication of the richest
and. The same soil which, if left TO
itself, will bear the blue grass with the
greatest success will, If cultivated, pro-
| duco huge crops OF tobacco and hemp,
] the most consuming of all farm products,
without any sensible diminution in
| strength. When uncleared, trees OF black
walnut, blue ash and black locust COVERT
| to bear testimony TO its virtue. Il dozen
counties in Kentucky boast a sol. strong
enou IA 10 produce the blue grass in a
| greaterr less degr ee of perfection. The
Thousand and one requisites for its alb
solutely perfect growth are found COM
| bined in only three-Rayette. Woodford
and Bourbon-wnich together constitute
| the fnmousblue-gr grass region of the State.
favette is the county which includes the
city OF Lexington and Ashland, the
home of Henry Clay; Woodford, the
one In which is Woodbine. Alexander's
farm, the largest in the State; and Bour-
bon is the source OF the finest of Ken
tucky's exported cattle and the original
producer of Kentucky's corn whisky,
whose name it bears. These three are
alike districts of exhaustless fertility,
and alike possess n subsoil of blue lime
stone which constitutes perpetual and
natural fertilizer.
The blue glass is cultivated as a food
for stock. 1t perfects the good qualities
of an animal and diminishes his bad
ones. Kentuckians assert that it makes
horses go faster, cows give more milk
and bear more flesh, sheep grow more
| quickly and wear more wool than any
other food in the world. 1t is exclu.
sively pasture growth. 1t cannot be
cured for hay. 1t stands in the field the
year around. and the stock for the same
period feed upon IL with the greatest
relish. The fall of snow is seldom heavy
enough in Kentucky 10 cause them any
inconvenience. 1t acts rather as a gen.
tie seasoner, which the stock puff or
scratch away, TO find the grass moist
and succulent on account of its having
been there. Usually, unless the winter is
very severe, the stock is kept
turned out the year around in the blue
grass region. Sometimes the sheep have
TO be housed in heavy storm, but sheep
are not a popular OF common product
with the Kentucky farmers. Sheep can
thrive on land so much poorer that 1t
seems a waste of wealth TO raise them.
Before the war mules and hogs were the
great staples of the State. but the de-
mand from the South, which used To be
20 large for these in slave days, has
grown too slim TO allow the business of
their breeding to be general. Durham
and Alderney cattle and thoroughbred
and trotting horses have In consequf nee
become the almost exclusive produc-
tions OF this great stock country.
The comparative possibilities of these
four branches Of the business Is an in
teresting subject of discussion among
Kentucky stockmen. Probably the man
who raises 3 few of each and not too
many of any Is the wisest. Popular
opinion, however, varies on this sub
'ect. Some years ago there was great
'shorthorn" fever. when everybodys
money went into "shorthorn" cattle.
1 The -nN f.l l..