2^ 



entitle it to consideration. Tliere is mucn difference of opinion among 

 farmers as to its merits. It is not met with except on farms, growing- 

 near streams. Stockmen who are not also farmers do not appear to 

 know anything about it. It produces an abundance of foliage and soft 

 stems, and ought to make good hay. Specimens from Eastland County 

 were nearly 3 feet high. After being fully cured it is soft, has a rich 

 smell, and seems in many respects ecjual to the best native grasses of 

 this section. It has slender, erect stems, long, narrow leaves, strong 

 roots that take firm hold in the earth, and few seed (in September). If 

 cultivated it might prove to be a fairly good hay grass. 



Grapevine Mesquite {Panicnm ohtnsum) grows in most of the coun- 

 ties of central Texas. It has long, creeping, jointed stems that root 

 wherever they touch the ground, scanty leafage and that rather harsh, 

 and a fair quantity of seed that clings well to the stems. It grows in this 

 section from 18 to 24 inches high. There were no indications of its 

 having been eaten by stock, although an observing farmer says : "They 

 do eat it when they can't get anything better.'" Mixed with other and 

 softer grasses it will perhaps prove of some value. 



Crab Grass {Fanicum sangidnale). — It is scarcely necessary to dis- 

 cuss tbis well-known grass, for whether a native of this section or not, 

 it is here in great quantities and is a pest or a blessing according to 

 the point of view from which it is considered. Growing in cultivated 

 tields it is not very troublesome until corn and other field crops are 

 about to be " laid by," when it asserts itself vigorously. Once it gets 

 a foothold in a field it soon occupies every foot of the ground. This is 

 the unfavorable view to be taken of it. On the other liand it furnishes 

 a great abundance of excellent pasturage for all classes of stock. That 

 it is nutritious can not be seriously questioned. Excepting on soils 

 where it is not desirable for stock to run after field crops are gathered, 

 this grass is valuable, adding largely to the capacity of farms to sup- 

 port the cattle. One class of farmers here insist that it is an unmiti- 

 gated pest. Others say that while they w^ould not deliberately intro- 

 duce it on their farms, they are satisfied to have it remain. A few have 

 expressed themselves as preferring it, one of these stating that both 

 for pasturage and hay purposes a field well seeded to crab grass was, 

 in his oi)inion, worth more year after year than the value of any other 

 crop that could be grown. On the whole, it may be regarded as an 

 excellent hay grass primarily, and incidentally as a good pasture grass. 



Knot GraSiS (Paspalum distichum) (fig. 9) has a local name that, in 

 a sense, very aptly describes it, " Eternity grass." A farmer on whose 

 ground this grass was growing luxuriantly, when asked why it was so 

 called, pointed out a stem of it and invited the writer to trace it back to 

 the original root. He followed it through a dense matting of other 

 stems fully 20 feet and gave it up. The farmer suggested that it be 

 traced the other way, and again he failed after following it in the other 

 direction about 20 feet. The farmer then explained: "Eternity is 



