PREFACE. 5 



It will be of interest to many to note here the work previously done 

 by the Department of Agriculture in the Southwest, 



In 1886 Dr. George Vasey, in Bulletin No. 1 of the Division of Botany, 

 drew attention to the enormous loss of cattle in the Southwest throngh 

 overstocking of the ranges and lack of protection from storms in win- 

 ter. In 1883-84 the Bureau of Animal Industry investigated the range 

 problems with special reference to the loss of stock from storms. This 

 loss was estimated to vary from 5 per cent in a mild winter in Texas 

 to 18 or 20 per cent in the Dakotas and Montana. The next report 

 which treated of the condition of affairs in Texas was Bulletin No. 3 of 

 the Division of Botany, published in 1887, in which the attention of 

 the general public was for the first time drawn to the value in cultiva- 

 tion of Colorado grass {Panicum texanum) and Texas blue grass {Poa 

 arachmfera), and also to alfilaree, bur clover, Japan clover, mesquite 

 bean, and prickly pear. In 1887 an expedition was conducted in 

 western Texas by Mr. G. C Nealley, and in New Mexico, Arizona, 

 Nevada, and Utah by Prof. S. M. Tracy, who was at that time at 

 the University of Missouri. Professor Tracy's report was largely 

 botanical, while Mr. Nealley's was not only botanical, but contained 

 many economic notes in regard to the grasses and such forage plants 

 as " sotol," mesquite bean, and prickly i^ear. The reports of Messrs. 

 Tracy and Nealley were published in Bulletin No. 6 of the Division of 

 Botany. An enumeration of the grasses of Texas, with descriptions by 

 Mr. L. H. Dewey, assistant botanist, was published in Vol. II of the 

 Contributions to the National Herbarium in 1890. 



In 1891 Dr. Vasey, accompanied by Mr. L. II. Dewey, made a trip 

 along the line of the Southern Pacific Pailroad in Texas, New Mexico, 

 and Arizona, stopping en route to make botanical collections and secure 

 notes. These, however, were never i>ublished. Considerable collect- 

 ing was done in 1890-91 by G. C. Nealley, mainly in the territory along 

 the line of the Mexican National, the International, and the Southern 

 Pacific railroads. In 1891 Mr. F. V. Coville, Chief of the Division of 

 Botany, and Frederick Funston investigated from a botanical stand- 

 point the flora of southwestern Nevada and southeastern California, 

 incidentally gathering notes concerning the forage value of many of 

 the plants of that region. 



Previous to 1888 there were a dozen or more expeditions through 

 some parts of the Southwest, but the notes made were almost solely in 

 regard to the botanical relationship of the different plants. We are 

 indebted for much of our knowledge of the forage plants other than 

 grasses to the work of Drs. Palmer and Havard, the latter having been 

 stationed at different army posts in Texas and the Southwest for a num- 

 ber of years. Dr. Ilavard's most valuable contribution was published 

 as "A report on the flora of southern and western Texas" in Vol. 

 VIII of the Proceedings of the United States National Museum, 1885. 



F. L.-S. 



