36 



Prairie Clover (Knlinistera). — Stockineii here report that this species 

 of clover, commou throughout the prairie region, is to be found in many 

 parts of central Texas. It coutributes a considerable amount of good 

 forage on the ranges and is much relished by stock. 



Mesquite Bean (Prosojns juIifJora) (fig. 14).— There are two well- 

 known varieties of the small tree that produces this bean. In many of 

 the counties of southwest Texas and along the liio Grande the one 

 bearing the screw bean or tornillo {Prosopis pHbc.scens) is very common. 

 The pods or beans are not only eaten by all classes of stock, but the 

 Mexicans and Indians are known to use them as a food. The pods are 



spirally twisted, while those 

 grown on the other variety are 

 straight or curved. There are 

 really two forms of this latter 

 variety. In one the bark of the 

 tree is much rougher than in the 

 other, and the bean is bright yel- 

 low when ripe and much sweeter 

 to the taste, the color of the other 

 being reddish rather than yellow. 

 "A thorny, leguminous shrub, 

 growing in favored localities to 

 a tree from 20 to lO feet high, 

 with a trunk sometimes reaching 

 2J feet in diameter. It is widely 

 distributed from Texas to south- 

 ern California, through tropical 

 America to Argentina. The 

 leaves are very good browsing 

 for horses and cattle. It bears 

 two or more crops of beans a 

 year, which are next to barley for 

 fattening horses, cattle, sheep, 

 and hogs. The leaves, pods, and 

 bark are rich in tannin, and a 

 gum similar to gum arable exudes copiously from the trunk and 

 branches. The wood is hard, strong, and durable, and takes a high 

 polish. It is the most common tree of the mesas of the Southwest, and 

 because of its many uses is an exceedingly valuable species." Experi- 

 ments in a small way have been made here to preserve the beans for 

 winter feeding with partial success only, because of a small weevil, 

 that bores into them after they are gathered and renders them unfit for 

 stock feed. One acre of land well covered with mesquite trees often 

 produces not less than 100 bushels of the beans per annum. As, 

 bushel for bushel, they are quite as valuable for feeding stock as cow- 

 ]ieas, it Avill be seen that for forage ])uri)oses the mesquite tree is au 

 important factor in this section, where there are millions of them. 



Fig. 14.— Mesquite Bean. 



