WEEDS WITH PEAIEIE HAY. 355 



carried with the air into the lungs. My objection to prairie 

 hay is, the tendency to produce costiveness ; and if much 

 of it is fed, you will always notice that the excrements are 

 hard, and of a dark color. Of the three varieties I have 

 mentioned, the kind that would seem the least fitted for 

 nourishment I am satisfied is the best, viz : the large 

 blue-joint. I have noticed that stock kept on that have 

 been invariably in the best condition, and the farmers 

 who lived on the margin of the Maquoketa bottom, and 

 who wintered large herds of cattle on this alone, had their 

 animals in better plight in the spring, than the dwellers 

 on the prairie who fed the finer kinds and added a pro- 

 portion of grain. Some of this prairie hay has a delightful 

 fragrance ; this and the bright green color it displays in 

 midwinter, have led people to place too high an opinion 

 on its nutritive qualities. There is frequently a weed 

 mixed with this hay that I am certain is injurious. It is 

 called resin-weed, from a similarity of taste and smell to 

 that substance. It is a very powerful diuretic, and as it is 

 eaten with avidity, it cannot fail to do harm. Some 

 ascribed the immunity from heaves to this ingredient, and 

 extracts were made and recommended as a specific for 

 most of the diseases of the throat and lungs. I have 

 known two horses injured from giving them this extract, 

 and have no doubt that others have been rendered worth- 

 less from partaking of it in its natural and less powerful 

 form. There are undoubtedly other plants cut with the 

 hay that are not proper for a horse to eat, and so, to be sure 

 that I do not give any of them, I would refrain from 

 feeding the hay that contained them. 



PRECEPTOR. Here is a table of the relative value of hay 

 and other foods, compiled from experiments in France 

 and Germany : 



