B. P. I.— 796. 



FORAGE-CROP EXPERIMENTS AT THE SAN 

 ANTONIO FIELD STATION. 



INTRODUCTION. 1 



The country about San Antonio, Tex., was an open prairie not 

 many years ago and was covered by a luxuriant growth of native 

 grasses which furnished excellent pasturage. The prairie fires which 

 periodically swept the country kept down the growth of trees and 

 shrubs. 2 As the country became more thickly settled the ranges 

 were overstocked, the native grasses were kept closely cropped, and 

 the mesquite (Prosopis juliflora), the native cactus (Opuntia sp.), 

 and other shrubby plants covered the ground. At present the 

 forage furnished by the native vegetation, except the cactus, plays 

 a decidedly insignificant part in the agriculture of the region. 



Aside from some irrigation farming along the San Antonio River, 

 the early agriculture consisted of stock raising. Crop production on 

 a commercial scale is of comparatively recent date. As the stock 

 ranches have been divided into smaller farms the stockmen have given 

 place to cotton growers and truck farmers, until only a few large stock 

 ranches are left in the vicinity of San Antonio. Some dairy farming 

 has been undertaken, but the demand for dairy products resulting 

 from the rapidly increasing population has increased faster than tin* 

 supply, until the point has been reached where dairying would be 

 one of the most profitable industries of the region if the necessary 

 forage could be produced at a moderate cost. The breaking up of 

 the large stock ranches into cotton, truck, and dairy farms has 

 increased the need of forage production until it is now an acute 

 problem, for the success of dairying largely depends on the cheapness 

 with which forage can be grown or purchased. 



The rainfall in the section is so unevenly distributed that native 

 grasses can not be relied upon to furnish pasture or hay; consequently 



1 The information contained in this circular is based on cooperative experiments conducted by t he Offices 

 of Forage-Crop Investigations and Western Agricultural Extension of the Bureau of Plant Industry since 

 1907. The work during the first two years was carried on by Mr. F. B. Headley and since then by Mr. S. H. 

 Hastings. 



2 For a discussion of this subject, see Cook, O. F., "Change of Vegetation on the South Texas Prairies," 

 Circular 14, Bureau of Plant Industry, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture. 1908. 



[Cir. 106] 3 



