102 CHLORIDEAE 



more or less scarce. Unfortunately it is rather easily killed 

 out and reproduces itself very slowly. It is considerably the 

 most valuable forage of the region it inhabits, with the 

 possible exception of the Mesquite Grass {Miihlcnbcrgia 

 porteri) above referred to which Prof. Thornber so correctly 

 states has been practically exterminated in the region, being 

 found now only under the shelter of thorny shrubs where stock 

 cannot get at it. Extended observation has so far failed to 

 show just how or when Bouteloua eriopoda reproduces. It 

 always appears as separate plants, stools rather freely, never 

 forms sods, has no runners, does not seem to spread away 

 from a center which dies out as is the case with some grasses, 

 and is very hard to tran^^plant. Seeds do not germinate well 

 and the author !ias ne\er seen seedlings en the range. It 

 rarely forms a pure stand in New Mexico usually being 

 associated with Tobosa Grass and with the various Needle 

 Grasses. Stock of all kinds like the grass and in many places 

 the mixture of which it is the most important part has been 

 and is still cut for hay, though this practice is much less 

 common now than formerly. The loss of this grass and the 

 Mesquite Grass from the ranges of this State is a very 

 serious one as they are by far the most valuable range 

 grasses of the region they inhabit. Data as to their rate of 

 replacement if it will occur at all, are wanting, but it is 

 doubtless very slow, and not apt to occur while the range is 

 in use. Large areas formerly occupied by the.se grasses are 

 now either sandy wastes or are more or less co\'er(l by weeds 

 that are of no value — and all because of the shortsighted 

 and utterly selfish policy followed in the management of 

 range lands. 



Tall Gr.\ma {Atlicropogon ciirliponhilits) is a grass 

 which is very common on dry or rocky hillsides or moun- 

 tains and to some extent on the higher plains of the State. 

 It is widely distributed throughout tlie United States and is 

 more or less valuable. The author once heard an experienced 

 cattleman sav that it was a valuable grass "to sell a range on." 



