Uniola latlfolia, Melica mutica, wild rye aud Terrell grass. The grasses 

 of the uplands are the same as those of the prairies. The needle grasses 

 compose 25 per cent of the total; seed mesquite aud the two curly mes- 

 quites each 10 per cent, aud side-oats grama, feather sedge, switch 

 grass, wild millet, windmill grass, and species of Triodia, Uragrostis, 

 and Siwroholus together supplying the remainder. 



THE GEANITE REGION. 



In the mountainous granitic area of Burnet, Llano, and Gillespie 

 couuties there are fewer turf- forming grasses and fewer well grassed pas- 

 tures than in almost any other portion of the State. Bur grass is omni- 

 present, and the other species are in the main those of central Texas. 

 A noticeable feature is the great abundance of leguminous plants. 

 Vetches {Vicia and Lathyrm) and wild beans {Fhaseohis) occur along 

 every stream and in the scrub-oak copses. The buffalo peas {Lupinus 

 and Astragalus) give color to the landscape in early spring, while in 

 April the Texan pea {Astragalus nuttallianus) forms a thick growth over 

 square miles of the granitic ridges. This area was originally more or 

 less thickly covered with oak forest, and is now very brushy. The 

 winter and spring pasturage is as good as anywhere in the State. 

 The addition of good grasses to supplement the native legumes and 

 supply summer and autumn feed would make this part of Texas the 

 best grazing ground in the State, for there is plenty of water and good 

 shelter at all seasons of the year. In tiuies of drought the oak scrub 

 is eaten by cattle and will keep them alive until the rains come. The 

 mesquite beans are valuable at such times, as is also the mistletoe, which 

 is parasitic on them. Mistletoe is said to be poisonous when fed to very 

 young stock, and liable to cause abortion among cows, especially if 

 eaten when other feed is scarce. The average carrying capacity of this 

 mountainous area is about 40 or 50 head of cattle per square mile. 

 The range could be improved by introducing upland alfalfa, Japan 

 clover, Bokhara clover, and legumes adapted to rocky soils, and by 

 devoting a larger acreage of the better valley lands to the cultivation 

 of sorghum and Kafir corn or milo maize. In this aud other portions 

 of the State the unrestricted pasturing of hogs has been a potent factor 

 in the destruction of the grasses. They not only disseminate seeds of 

 the prickly pear more rapidly than would be the case were they kept 

 within bounds, but they consume seeds, roots, and tubers of a variety 

 of valuable plants to such an extent that many of the best are all but 

 exterminated. 



THE RED PRAIRIES. 



To the northward of the middle plain and granitic area there lies a 

 prairie region whicli slopes gently downward from the eastern edge of 

 the Staked riains, by a succession of steppes, to about the ninety-eighth 

 meridian. This prairie region ranges from 1,200 to 3,000 feet in alti- 

 tude aud, while it is intercepted in the southern portion by a number of 



