32 



aud has caused the stockmen to refer to these meadows as the "sedge- 

 grass prairies." However conspicuous these grasses may be, they are 

 not the most abundant. There are a few spots where the sedge grasses 

 occur so thickly that they make up fully 80 per cent of the vegetation. 

 But in the majority of the coastal prairie pastures the sedge grasses 

 do not amount to more than 10 per cent. On prairies at the mouth 

 of the Brazos River buffalo grass [Bulbilis dactyloidcs) comprises about 

 60 per cent of the total, while rescue {Broinus unioloides), knot grass 

 {Paspalum compressuni), Bermuda {Cynod<m dactylon), and smut grass 

 {Sporoholus indicus) together amount to about 25 per cent. The remain- 

 ing 15 per cent consists of from thirty to fifty species which occur as 

 scattered individuals. The land is here more suited to agriculture 

 than to stock raising. The rainfall is so heavy that the autumnal and 

 winter grasses are frequently rotted instead of curing into hay on their 

 own roots, so that it is necessary to jirovide winter feed. 



The carrying capacity of the coastal prairies is probably on the whole 

 about tlie same as that of the salt marshes, though they deteriorate 

 from overgrazing, not because the soils become worn out, but through 

 influx of weeds and sour grasses which gradually displace the better 

 ones. 



Farther down the coast, in Victoria, Calhoun, and Jackson counties, 

 the three sedge grasses mentioned above constitute 40 per cent of the 

 vegetation. Bearded mesquite {Stipa leucotricha) makes up fully 25 

 per cent, while honey dew {Paspalum pUcatulum) amounts to 20 per cent. 

 The other 15 per cent is made up as before of a great variety of forms, 

 including knot grass, broad-leafed B^vrnvidm [Paspalum distichum), wild 

 barley [Hordeum pusillum), wild millets {Chaetochloa), switch grass, 

 white grama, Colorado grass {Panicttm texanum), and a score of others, 

 all in great profusion of form, but no one species supplying any very 

 large portion of the forage. 



The grasses of the wooded bottoms are neither abundant nor nutri- 

 tious, so that their grazing capacity seldom amounts to more than one- 

 fourth as much as that of the open prairies. The dominant, and at the 

 same time the most valuable, species is elm grass {Panicum prostratum). 

 With this there occur Terrell grass [Elymns virginicus), wild timothy 

 ( Phalaris am/usta), cotton-top {Panicum lachnanthum ), and others. Here 

 also in the dense shade occur numerous wild beans and what stockmen 

 call a wild four-leaf clover {Marsilia macropoda), one of the fernworts, 

 a relative of the Australian " Nardoo," which is also regarded as of some 

 value as forage. 



Between Kockportand the southern shore of Corpus Christi Bay the 

 soil is black "hog-wallow" prairie extending to the beach, with no 

 marsh intervening. Salt-water cord grass {Spartina striata) replaces 

 bunch salt grass to a considerable extent. It grows as well between 

 high and low tide as farther back on the landward side of the marshes, 

 and is here a rapid land builder, continually advancing, forming little 

 peninsulas which stretch out into the sea aud cause shallows to lorm 



