The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-08-04
THE ONLY BLUE GRASS,
A Refugee From kentucky Becomes
Flercely Patriotic.

To II EDITOR Of THE SUN-Sir. OBJ
serving "A serious, almost libellous, re-
neCtlon In THE SUN OF Saturday, July
81. upon the Blue Grass qualities
or kentucky as compared with those.
so called, Of Missouri. especially OF
Gentry county, which claims to raise
more blue grass than any other county
on earth, while the other counties OF
Missouri raise more than all the re-
naming %ountie in the United States,
in which you inquire IL Kentucky is
really the Blue Grass state as repre-
sented. permit me TO state that Ken
lucky primarily IS tho Blue Grass State.
and II is SO not because OF the quantity
raised, but because of the quality. In
other words Kentucky sets the pegs of
standard.
Peoria. Ill, raises more whiskey than
Kentucky. but who drinks Peoria whis-
key except Missourians?
To go back a little into history, Ken
lucky was a State In the Union thirty
years before Missouri was. and Missouri
was largely settled by keutuckIans. who
had only to cross the Mississippi to get
there, n at once became rank expa-
trtates because one Of the first places
settled in the State was called New
Bourbon. Would the rock ribbed Ken
tuckian AVE called IL anything else
but Old Bourbon? New Bourbon"
sounds like Missouri Blue Grass and
10 doubt tastes like Il.
As for Gentry county. IL was named
for Colonel Richard Gentry. a fine Ken
lucky family name. and very evidently
the Colonel was making his title good
in the new state. As for its alleged
blu grass, the first raised in Ne county
was brought there In sod. as the real
blue grass seed from kentucky could
not or would not sprout in the Mis-
sour soil. by careful cultivation Of this
and later importdtiOus Of sod from its
native heath a kind Of Mtssour! blue
grass was produced which finally spread
over the State, !nvigorated by the KEN
lucky strain in the original transplant
ing Of the sod.
Possibly kentucky gets some so-called
blue grass seed from Missouri, as is
stated by the report which YOU quote.
but what she gets she uses to cross
with the genuine stock for distribution
in the Pennyrile. the peayine. the Pur-
chase and the Red Brush. whore the
soil, being similar to that Of Missouri,
Is adapted to the hybrid and raises
a grass not unlike that which Is being
raised III Missouri.
Ind YOU ever see any Missouri Blue
Grass, so called? 1t isn't blue at all.
but a bilious green: and they make hay
of it. can kentucky blue grass be cut
LOT may Al tdlllloA II iltN Nlpst anu
lush to the peculiar soil which proudly
bears it: and a two thousand pound
shorthorn will sit back IN his hunkers
in the vain attempt to pull its firmly
imbeddcd roots from the calcareous
earth which viii not let II go. That's
how a kentucky BLUE grass pasture diff
fers from a Missouri blue grass hay
field with a raZorback shaking the clay
from the roots of the grass he has
ono IlI ~ t,ttgA 40. to la AAhU cir
the very name Of ii is hyphenated and
they spell 1t bluegrass" Can any
thing much worse he imagined, even
in these times of atrocities? Missouri
raises more horses than Kentucky does,
but who is there who points with pride
at a Missouri thoroughbred? Who ever
heard OF one. except possibly AT the
annual Gentry County Fair? Kentucky
makes no meretricious boast Of how
much blue grass she raises. but she
proudly boasts OF how much superior
hers is to any that can be raised in
Missouri or elsewhere on earth.
Therefore. sir, when you ask the ques-
ton rs then Kentucky the Blue Grass
State?' you may well reply in thunder
tones, dcfyiug successful contradiction,
that she not only is, but will continue
to retain the title so long as her justly
celebrated blue grass region is a lime
stone plateau one thousand feet above
the level of the sea, overlapping Gentry
county, Missouri, as the dazzling sun
in the cerulean heavens overtops the
pale II Intellectual noon.
Now, sir, If Missouri wants to be
shown, show her!
COLONEL w. j. HAMPTON,
NEW YORK, August ,.
1.-THE big capitals are the Colonel's,
-., FHrYt GrsN4