St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1903-06-06
HORSES ATE SLEEPY GRASS.
Narcotic HerbaEe of the Sacrame INTO
Mountains Produces StupOr
in the Animals.

Vernon Bailey, in writing to Science,
says that he has been told by ranch
man in the Pecos valley of New Mexico
Of a strange kind of grass found in the
Sacramento mountains, which, from its
peculiar effect on horses, is called
sleepy grass" and differing from the
locoes in merely putting horses into a
deep sleep without other symptoms of
poisoning. Some time afterward Mr..
Bailey was travelling in the Sacramento
mountains and writes thus of his ex-
periences: eve had made camp one
evening in a beautiful park, bordered
with spruces and frs, and covered with
tall grass that, with it's green base
leaves and ripe heads loaded with heavy
rye-like grain, offered a tempting feast
to our hungry animals. The moment
saddles and harness were off the horses
were eagerly feeding. A few minutes
later passing ranchman stopped his
team and called over to us: Look out
there! Your horses are getting sleepy
grass and added: If they get good
feed of that grass you will not get out
of here for a week. We were not pre-
pared to spend week in that locality
but was anxious to test the grass, SC
let the horses feed for half hour,
then brought them up for their oats
and picketed them on some short grass
on the side hill, went out of reach of
the sleepy grass.
1.-THE following morning just after
sunrise the cook called my attention
to the attitude of one of the team
horses, saying there was sure some
thing the matter with old joe The
horse was standing on the side hill,
asleep, his feet braced wide apart,
head high in air, both ears and under
lip dropped, most ridiculous picture
of profound slumber. The other horses
apparently had not eaten as much of
the grass as old Joe, for they were
merely doing in the morning sun, and
showed signs of life in an occasional
shake of the head or switch of the
tail. At breakfast time the others
woke up to keen interest in their
oats, but old Joe preferred to sleep
rather than eat. My little saddle mare
showed the least signs of the general
stupor. During the rest of the day
the horses would go to sleep at each
stop, and progress was slow.
"That night we camped in another
park-like valley where sleepy grass was
abundant, but took care to picket the
horses out of reach of it. They were
hungry, and all began to feed eagerly,
but old Joe soon stopped, braced his
feet, and relaxed into forgetful slyin-
Der. The next morning when we went
to bring them in for their grain all were
fast asleep. The stupor lasted about
three days, and was too evident and
unusual to be attributed to WEAKNESS
or natural indisposition. We were
making easy trips, and the horses We're
in good condition. After it wore off,
they showed their usual spirit and
energy, as well as appetite. The only
after-effect was gaunt appearance,
apparently resulting from lack of en-
ergy to get their usual amount Of
grass. Old Joe had even refused his
grain for about half the time.
II have offered nc real proof that
this particular species of grass is what
affected our horses. They undou0t-
edly ate dozen other species of grass,
as well as some other plants, every day
while we were in the mountains. Ent
after our experience l am inclined to
give credit to the uniform statements
of the ranchmen in regard to it. All
agree on the species, on it's effects. and
to the fact that after one good dose
of sleepy grass, horses will never
touch it again. This latter statement
has ample proof. Horses and cattle
are ranging in many of the valleys
where it grows in abundance, un-
and full of ripe seed, while the
other grasses are cropped close around
it. did not see horses or cattle touch
it except in the case of our own ami
mails, and the teams of another trav-
cling from the valley, all of which ate
it eagerly. They ate both the base
leaves and the heads that were full
of ripe seeds. I shelled out and ate
a handful of the seeds, but without
effect. The ranchmen gen
orally agree that it is the leaves which
produce the sleepiness. l do not hear
that cattle were affected by it, but
they certainly avoid it. as many we're
grazing near where it stood un-
touched
Both Sharp and Blunt.
AS rule sharp business men are
rather blunt.-Chicago Daily News.