The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1894-11-08
SLEEPY GRASS OF NEW MEXICO.
After Eating 1t Horses. Cattle and sheep
Are Overcome by Sleep.

Over in Lincoln county. in this terri
tory, there is peculiar kind of grass
known as sleepy grass. 1t has the prop
erty of putting TO sleep any animal that
eats of it. Sleepy grass grows among
the other grass and is eaten by all kinds
of stock readily Its existence was I'M
known for Years after settlements had
been made in Lincoln county. Stock
men and others noticed that animals
would sometimes stand motionless for
an hour or two at time but it never
occdrred to them that the cause of this
apparent resting was distinct grass.
The discovery was finally made by one
of party of travellers going from San
Antonio. a small station on the Atchi-
son, Topeka Y Santa Fe railroad, near
Socorro, to the Pecos valley. in Lincoln
county. The trip is il long one and a
portion of it is over some of the rough
est country in New Mexico. Water il
not plentiful along the route. and for
miles there is hardly grass enough TO
feed a jack rabbit. while on other por-
tions of the route there is rank growth
OF grass.
1t was in one of those fertile places,
veritabe oasis in the desert. that the
discovery of sleepy grass was made
The party halted about noes for lunch
con and the team was unhltched and
picketed out to Craze for al hour or so.
The horses commenced eating with q
will, for they were hungry and there is
no more tempting grass TO a horses APP
petite than the black gramna which is
to be found in nearly all parts of New
Mexico. They fed for few moments
and then suddenly stopped, and, hold
inc their heads about on level with
their shoulders, stood as mOtionless as
if they were carved of stone. This be-
havior was not in accordance with the
ideas of one of the party as to what
hungry horses ought to do. He went
to where the horses were standing and
found them fast asleep. On speaking
TO them in loud tone both awoke and
commenced eating as if nothing had
happened. They had eaten only few
mouthfuls when both were sound asleep
again. They were aroused, but fell
asleep as before. By this time the re-
mainder of the party had become inter-
ested. The horses were awakened sew
eral times only to fall asleep after each
successive arousing.
None of the party had ever seen
horses act SO and all agreed that some
thing they had eaten had caused them
to sleep. Each of the party began a
search, and the plant which is known in
Lincoln county as sleeping grass was
discovered. The story was related by
the travellers to an officer of Lincoln
ntYr nd simon thnt TINA ba al Foot 6
this grass on animals has been observed
10y many persons.
Horses, after eating of it, in nearly
all cases sleep standing, while COWS and
sheep almost invariably lie down. 1t
has occasionally happened that travel
ers have stopped to allow horses to feed
in places where the grass grew pretty
thick and the animals have had time to
eat considerable quantity before its
effects manifested Themselves In such
cases horses have gone TO sleep on the
road. They fall asleep while being
hitched up, aud it often requires sharp
cut with the whip to rouse them. They
start off at good pace which gradually
slackens until finally the heads droop
and they come to Il stop, sound asleep.
A loud word will sometimes suffice to
start them again, but Oftener the whip
is needed. The effect of the grass
passes off in an hour or two and no bad
results have ever been noticed on ac-
count of it.
If horse be allowed to sleep until
the effects pass off he appears to be
very much refreshed and will travel
long distance without apparent fatigue,
but if urged to go during the period of
drowsiness which follows eating sleepy
grass he seems to be wearied even after
the inclination to sleep has passed away.
Cattle on the ranges frequently come
upon patches of this grass, where they
feed for perhaps half an hour and theaa
fall asleep for an hour on more, when
they wake up and 90 to feeding. The
programme is repeated peshaps dozen
times, until thirst obliges them to go to
water. Sleepy grass is ssrnd in sew
eral localities in Lincoln county, bat
has never been reported IL any other
part of New Mexico. Whether, liks
the poppy, it contains opitrAl, or whether
its sleep-producing properss is due to
some other substance, has rot been de-
termined. -S0cOrrO letter IN Y. Y. Sun.