EASTERN BRAZIL—CHASE 397 
monly, scattered shrubs, and there were quantities of grasses not be- 
fore seen. This was the only place in Brazil where I saw our 
dandelion. 
After four days about Barbacena I had an all-day journey to 
Lavras in the valley of the Rio Grande. Most of the distance the 
railway followed the south side of Rio Dos Mortes flowing west, 
full of rapids, rocks, and low islands, and bordered by giant Pas- 
palum, Panicum, and Hrianthus. Minas Geraes is fine cattle country. 
After seeing the interior of Pernambuco, Alagoas, and Bahia, it was 
good to see the ground covered with plenty of forage, though it was 
mostly capim gordura, better liked by cattle and their owners than 
by botanists. The foliage is sticky, difficult to walk through, 
and soils one’s clothes. Worse than that is the way it spreads, tak- 
ing possession of everything and killing out the native vegetation. 
But cattle thrive on it and it holds the steep red clay slopes that 
otherwise would be eroded. It has been tried in Florida, but has 
not found favor either with cattle or farmers. It is a beautiful 
grass, forming soft billowy mounds, and when in flower, covers the 
hillsides with soft glowing purple. Maize was the principal cul- 
tivated crop through this region, with rice and sugarcane in small 
patches. 
Martius and Spix write of the gold washing at Lavras, which 
they visited on their way from the southwest, but the Lavras of a 
century ago was some 7 kilometers north, near the Rio Grande. 
Gold washing is no longer carried on there. Agriculture is more 
advanced here than in any other part of Brazil I saw, due doubtless 
to the leadership of Dr. Benjamin Hunnicutt and the Escola Agri- 
cola, which he has developed, part of the Instituto Evangelico. 
The Ceiba trees which surround the plaza at Lavras were in bloom, 
the great pink flowers not only covering the trees but carpeting the 
earth beneath them, the thick petals remaining fresh and beautiful 
long after falling. 
The grass flora was rich at Lavras, but collecting was hampered 
by rain. Minas Geraes was suffering for want of water, the rainy 
season having been niggardly this year. Doctor Hunnicutt declared 
the rains were worth a million dollars apiece to Minas so I could 
not begrudge them, though I returned drenched from my tramps. 
The red clay hills are terribly eroded in places here, as elsewhere, 
in Minas. In slavery days ditches were used in place of fences, 
and these ditches have eroded into great gulches. To the south of 
Lavras the hills are cut into bad lands. 
March 13 I left Lavras, stopping for three days at Oliveira, and 
then went on to Bello Horizonte, the clean and beautiful capital of 
Minas Geraes. ‘To the south lies the Serra do Curral, typical campo. 
