AGRICULTURAL GRASSES OF MONTANA. 87 



patches, or tliin tufts, oti pine barren plains, where there is 

 nothing else to feed deer. 



Elymufi condensatus grows in tliin elnmps, or small, scattered 

 patches ; its leaves, though tough iind liard, are stripped off by 

 hungry animals. 



Oryzopsis cu$pida/a, Sporobolus <(i.roide>i and Stipa speciosa are 

 tufted grasses, scattered over tlie Mojare desert, and furnish an 

 occasional bite, i)alatable, though tough to cheAv, to antelopes, 

 and to strolling cattle and sheep. 



Glyceria ])auciflora, found on ruins of mountain tarns, is a 

 tender and sweet grass to deer or stock coming to drink. 



Melica imperfecta and Stipa setigera, tufted species frequenting 

 mesas and hills, are tender and ntitritious in April and May. 



Throughout the mountains where cattle cannot be herded so 

 successfully, sheep are everywhere led by their herders, swarming 

 like vermin, and creeping up to the very pinnacles of rock or to 

 the snow line, nibbling or tramping in the dust all vegetation, 

 ^o grass at ever so great an altitude, but must contribute its 

 mite towards the sustenance of these flocks. 



Thus Stipa stricta, Sporobolus depauperatus, S. gracillimus, ' 

 Agrostis varians, Trisetum canescens, Melica stricta, Poa 

 tenttifolia and P. Pringlii, on bare mountain tojDS and around 

 mountain springs and rills, must all yield a dainty mouthful to 

 the miserable dust begrimed sheep, compelled in their ascent 

 to live on the foliage of shrubs and on brittle herbs. 



Deyeuxia eqnivalvis, a tender and sweet grass, grows on the 

 verge of mountain brooks. 



Agricultural Grasses of Montana. — The following notes are 

 from a paper read at the fifth meeting of the Society for the 

 Promotion of Agricultural Science, by F. Lamson Scribner: 



"Although located so far north, and at no point less than 

 three thousand feet above the level of the sea, horses and cattle 

 thrive upon the ' ranges ' throughout the year without care or 



