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have had it in their fields, a native growth, for a great many years. 

 It is now common throughout this section in cultivated fields. It does 

 not ordinarily make its appearance until such field crops as Indian corn 

 are about ready to be " laid by." Then it covers the ground, and by 

 the time the corn is ready to be gathered it is nearly ready to be cut. 

 Farmers here are beginning to "lay by" their corn with special refer- 

 ence to this grass. That is to say, when they plow it the last time they 

 leave the ground as smooth as possible without furrows. Later they 

 cut the corn, leaving as little of the stalk as practicable, so that the 

 grass may be mowed, thus securing a hay crop hardly less valuable 

 than the corn. In an oat field of about 7 acres the Colorado grass 

 grew 18 to 24 inches tall and yielded a fraction under 2 tons of hay 

 per acre besides the grain. All classes of stock relish it and it is 

 very nutritious, but left too long it dries out and sheds both its leaves 

 and seed. It was first observed many years ago growing in the valleys 

 of the Colorado River in Travis County, where the farmers regarded 

 it as the best of all their hay grasses. It is a grass that does not 

 have a weedy habit, and land can easily be freed from it in one season 

 by following with cotton, but few farmers care to get rid of it under 

 any circumstances. 



S"witch Grass {Panicum virgatum) grows in low places, on the banks 

 of creeks, near tanks and pools, or in valleys where there is moisture. 

 It is also reported from the moist uplands. Stock eats it, especially 

 when it is young, and after it matures they eat the seed heads and pick 

 off the leaves. The great abundance of the latter is a marked charac- 

 teristic of this grass. Specimens were secured at the Seven Wells, in 

 Mitchell County, which measured fully 7 feet tall. In a pool near Baird, 

 in Callahan County, it was growing fully 6 feet in close compact 

 bunches. After the grass is seeded the stems are rather coarse and 

 harsh, and stock no longer relish them. If cut before it gets too old it 

 makes a hay of fair quality. 



. Water Grass {Paspalum puhifloriim glabrum) is a strong growing 

 perennial which ought to make a good hay grass. It was noted only 

 in the valleys, but a well-informed farmer of Eastland County, on whose 

 Ijlace the grass occurs, reports that it also grows fairly well on the 

 uplands. It is found in most of the counties of central Texas. It 

 often grows 4 feet high, aud as it produces a great abundance of soft 

 leaves it is regarded as a superior grass. Meadoiw lands seeded down 

 to it would undoubtedly produce in favorable seasons quite as much 

 hay as an equal acreage of alfalfa or Colorado grass. 



Texas Cro-w-foot ( Leptochloa dubia). — An excellent grass found in 

 Nolan County. It is worthy of being cultivated. Farmers in other 

 counties to whom the Nolan County specimens were shown say that 

 they have it growing on their farms, respectively in Taylor, Jones, and 

 Runnels counties. It is a promising hay grass. 



Drop Seed {ISporoholus cryptandrus). — Found in several localities, 



