The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1894-10-03
SLEEPY GRASS OF NEW MEXICO.
After Eating It Horses, Cattle and Sheep
Are Overcome by Sleep.

Over in Lincoln county, in this terri
tory there is a 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 un-
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
occurred 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 & Santa Fe railroad, near
Socorro, to the Pecos valley, in Lincoln
county. The trip is long one and a
portion of it is over some of the rough
est country in New Mexico. Water is
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, a
veritable oasis in the desert, that the
discovery of sleepy grass was made.
The party halted about noon for lunch
con and the team was unhitched and
picketed out to Craze for an hour or SO.
The horses commenced eating with a
will, for they were hungry and there is
no more tempting grass to horses ap-
petite than the black gramma which is
to be found in nearly all parts of New
Mexico. They fed for few moments
and then suddenly stopped, and, hold
| ing 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 seer
| horses act so and all agreed that some
thing they had eaten had caused them
| to Sleep Each of the party began 8
| 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
county, and since that time the effect o1
| %bSc rr,.o cc ~, 1c hoc hooV>
by many persons.
Horses, after eating of it, in nearly
all cases sleep standing, while COWS and
sheep almost invariably lie down. Il
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 tc
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, and it often requires sharp
cut with the whip to rouse them. They
start off at a good pace, which gradually
| slackens until finally the heads droop
and they come to 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 q
| 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 then
fall asleep for an hour or more, when
they wake up and go to feeding. The
A Mysterious Proiectile.