AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRIES 121 



tractors a chance to file bids and longer still to ad- 

 mit the grains cut green to the place occupied by 

 timothy on the army schedules, but finally oat and 

 even barley hay became admissible to the govern- 

 ment mule menu. This fact is mentioned to empha- 

 size the contrast between the conservatism of the 

 army and the ready acceptance of grain hay by the 

 pioneers who saw what the Mexicans did with horses. 

 The more specific demonstration came later when the 

 race horse magnates put a test on the efficiency of 

 grain hay and stopped at no expenditure to secure 

 the advantage of it. Joseph Cairn Simpson, who 

 was probably the greatest equine philosopher of the 

 last century, was firmly convinced that the suprem- 

 acy of California horses, so clearly demonstrated a 

 few decades ago, was due in good part to the cli- 

 mate and the feed, and he used to point to the prac- 

 tice of expert horsemen as supporting his conten- 

 tion. Simpson gave these facts: 



"A test between Timothy hay imported from Ore- 

 gon and wheat hay of California resulted in a decided 

 preference for the latter. That estimate has been 

 endorsed by many trainers from the east. Hickok, 

 Marvin, Goldsmith and Salisbury, after one trip east 

 with trotters, when eastern hay had to be used, be- 

 came so well satisfied of the superiority of California 

 hay that in subsequent eastern trips they took a 

 season's supply with them. There were differences 

 of opinion as to which kind was best: wheat, oats, 

 wheat and oats, and wild oats each had its advocates. 

 The crowning testimony of its excellence was when 



