33 



where driftwood and sediment are caught. The shore line is thus 

 encroaching upon the waters of the bays. If this grass coukl be util- 

 ized artiticially in the same way, a broad beach could be rapidly formed 

 along the entire coast wherever there are existing shallows. 



THE CACTUS PLAINS. 



The black land coastal prairies end a few miles below Corpus Christi, 

 where the transition between the "hog- wallows'' and the "sands" is 

 quite sharply marked. The southern Buffalo grass [Bulbilis) is the 

 most common ijrairie grass, pro- 

 ducing in many places fully 75 per 

 cent of the forage. Bermuda grass 

 is abundant along the streams and 

 on the borders of tanks and ponds. 

 The bur-grass {Cenchrvs trihuloi- 

 (les) (fig. 3) is very plentiful, and is 

 considered valuable up to the time 

 when the burs are ripe. After that 

 it is a great pest. Were it not for 

 the burs this would be one of the 

 best of the wild grasses, because it 

 is one of the earliest to com- 

 mence growth in spring and is 

 also quite hardy. Cattle relish 

 the herbage, usually eating it down 

 closely, even before the surround- 

 ing taller grasses are touched. 

 Bur-grass is now widely distrib- 

 uted and probably occurs in every 

 county in Texas and jSI e w Mexico 

 where sheep are grazed, the burs 

 being widely disseminated in the 

 fleeces of these animals. It is 

 probable that its objectionable 

 qualities as a weed quite outweigh 

 its value for early spring feed. 



Dr. De Eyee, of Corpus Cbristi, states that the country between there 

 and the Eio Grande was entirely open thirty years ago, sparsely grassed, 

 and with only here and there a bunch of mesquite beans. is"ow all of 

 the open spaces have been filled with thorn-thickets, often impenetrable 

 to horsemen. In parts of Starr, Hidalgo, and Cameron counties the 

 loose sands which comprise the surface soil are underlaid by fresh water 

 at a depth of from 2 to 10 feet. The grasses here are mainly such as 

 grow in bunches, like the needle grasses and bearded mesquites. 



There is a low ridge or watershed parallel with the Rio Grande 

 about 20 miles east of Laredo. From this ridge the land slopes both 

 ways, forming a gradual descent to the east and a more abrupt one to 

 13475— No. 16 3 



FiQ. 3. — Bur-gras3 (Cenchrus iribuloides) . 



