GRASSES OF IOWA. . 449 



natural forage afforded by the country traversed. For the 

 most part this consisted of perennial grasses which at that 

 time were everywhere abundant. The whole of the west was 

 then a great open pasture, unstocked save for the herds of 

 buffalo, deer and antelope. Many regions which were then 

 covered with a luxuriant growth of grasses are now entirely 

 destitute of vegetation, if we exclude a few straggling, stunted 

 bushes and the yearly crop of annuals which follow the sum- 

 mer rains. As a more specific case, the rancher who drove 

 the first herd into Tonto basin, in central Arizona, found a 

 well -pastured valley, everywhere covered with grass reaching 

 to his horse's flanks. In passing through this region a year 

 ago scarcely a stalk of grass was to be seen from one end of 

 the valley to the other. This transformation has taken place 

 in a half score of years." 



Many of our most important native forage plants are per- 

 ennials which naturally grow and acquire their maturity slower 

 than annuals. The grasses which formerly covered so great 

 an area of the west were years in developing their root sys- 

 tems, and in not a few species the stems were of several years' 

 growth. In this article the author goes on to say that it will 

 not be many years before the natural range grasses are a thing 

 of the past. "Last year, in passing over a large unwatered 

 area north of Prescott, miles of country were found to be cov- 

 ered with grass, while in much mjre favorable localities, in 

 the vicinity of water, these species have entirely disappeared." 

 The same facts are illustrated in the Mississippi valley. In 

 many parts of Wisconsin sand prairies are common. My father 

 often spoke of the abundance of wild forage in the early days. 

 When he came to La Crosse, in the early fifties, the lower 

 places we'e covered with a dense mass of nutritious grass. 

 Now they yield almost nothing. The prairies of Iowa, before 

 they were fenced and pastured, contained immense quantities 

 of valuable nutritious grasses. Our pasturing has noi only 

 caused these grasses to diminish in quan ity, but they are 

 gradually being replaced by weeds and, in some cases, inferior 

 grasses. Buffalo grass {Buchloe dactyloides) and Gamma grass 

 {Bouteloua), once abundant in the west, are rapidly disappear- 

 ing as an element in native forage plants of Kansas and other 

 western states. 



As a result of the overstocking of pastures, weedy annuals, 

 like Southern Poverty-grass, Foxtail and Squirrel-tail grass 



