BOTANICAL INFORMATION. 287 



diflora ; the latter, late in August. A tall species of Aconitum, 

 too, blooms 6—7 feet high among these thickets. The 

 grasses, as every where on the west side of the Rocky 

 mountains, consist chiefly of the two species, Triticum 192, 

 and Festuca 356 ; both are called " bunch-grass"* by Anglo- 



* It is erroneous to believe that these two species of grasses grow 

 naturally so in separate tufts or bunches. The cause is a mechanical one, 

 mainly owing to the annual fires, the great heat and drought during the 

 latter part of summer, as well as to the deep snows, the wet in the month 

 of March accompanied by severe bare-frosts. But the same causes again 

 may also occasion part of that excellence, which these grasses possess in 

 respect to feeding qualities, which surpass the best grain fodder. Yet, 

 I am sure that great part is likewise owing to the kinds ; for, in the 

 lower regions, on the Upper Missouri River, where there is an elevation 

 of only about 1000 feet, without these extremes of heat, and the destruc- 

 tion by fire, the Triticum Missuricum enjoys the same reputation as excel- 

 lent fodder for horses and cattle. Two weeks are sufficient to fatten a 

 poor horse, when the first blades spring out in March. There it grows 

 not in bunches, but in dense carpets, suffering scarcely any other plant 

 amongst itself, save a few Opuntia groups. Yet the Festuca 356, surpasses 

 the Triticum by far, which grass I never recognized east of the Rocky 

 Mountains. Horses and cattle, therefore, in Upper Oregon feed on the 

 former, only in the absence of the latter, which occurs in such places where 

 water remains long in the spring. The extreme heat in Oregon give to 

 these grasses another great value, on which the importance of Upper 

 Oregon, as a grazing country, depends. The heat commences about the 

 1st of July, when the parching rays of the sun, suddenly dry up the 

 blades of the grass, and render it a wholesome hay. The centre of the 

 tufts, however, remain green, waiting only for a little moisture to renew 

 the growth, which also takes place about the middle of September, during 

 a series of wet, foggy, cloudy days. Soon afterwards, frosts arrest its 

 growing a second time, and a deep (2-3 feet) snow covers it for five 

 months. I have convinced myself that these grasses, thus checked and 

 excited, keep green and grow a little, even under the snow. The frosts 

 and snow render the dry blades brittle, and the horses and cattle eat it 

 ■with greediness, mixed with the young green parts which they find in the 

 centre of the tufts ; digging for it with their feet day and night, remaining 

 fat through the winter; and poor ones will, if healthy, get fat notwithstanding 

 that labour. This is the case in places where the fires do not reach ; but 

 when fires follow after the heat and drought, it will soon grow again and 

 keep green under the deep snow. The soil is generally a heavy loam, 

 mixed with fragments of granitic and basaltic rocks; getting very hard 



