AGROSTIDEAE 59 



valuable grass. In the Sacramento Mountains Stipa vaseyi 

 is known as Sleepy Grass and is reported upon good author- 

 ity to act as a narcotic upon animals that eat it, especially 

 affecting horses. The degree of narcotism depends upon the 

 amount of the grass the animal eats, and, if stories current 

 in that region are to be believed, may range from a general 

 dullness through a period of profound sleep from which the 

 animal cannot be aroused, sometimes lasting as much as 48 

 hours, to a comatose condition ending in death. Animals 

 living in the region never eat the grass and an animal once 

 affected shuns the plant. We have never had any experience 

 with the grass which would in any way corroborate the above 

 statements, but can votich for the honesty of a number of men 

 who have told in detail of their own personal experiences. 

 One of us has so thoroughly believed their statements that on 

 numerous occasions h;; has been careful to prevent his own 

 horses from eating it. The grass never shows the effects of 

 grazing wherever examined, though horses not accustomed 

 to it will eat it freely. On two or three occasions one of us 

 has been instrumental in obtaining the grass in Cjuantity for 

 chemical analysis, but such analyses of the dried grass have 

 always given no information as to the cause of the narcotism. 

 On one occasion his horses ate about fifty pounds of the dried 

 grass without any noticeable effect. Whether the result was 

 due to the failure to get enough of it or to a change in the 

 grass due to drying or to the possible mythical character of the 

 narcotism, it was impossible to sa\-, and he has never been so 

 situated as to be able to carry out a set of experiments with 

 animals to get exact data on the subject. If it could be 

 demonstrated that the dried grass is harmless and palatable to 

 stock, it would pay to cut it in certain places where the stand is 

 good. The amount of forage produced upon an acre would 

 probably be rather heavy, since the grass is large and leafy and 

 stems stout. It is possible that two cuttings might be obtained. 

 A crop would thus lie obtained from land that now yields 

 nothing. Tlie belief in its narcotic eft'ects is general through- 



