84 NATIVE GRASSES OF THE PACIFIC SLOPE. 



acceptable, probably, as any afforded by the perennial grasses. 

 Panicum lucopliceum and Andropogon contortus, in their scat- 

 tered tufts on the mesas and foot hills, are of similar value. 



Hilaria rigida on sandy plains has hard stems and tough leaves, 

 but animals are forced to consume it. Panicum fuscum, P. 

 capillare var., and P. colonum are rather weeds .of tilled fields, 

 and as forage plants probably equal Panicum Crus-galli, P. 

 sanguinale, Setaria glauca and 8. viridis. With them may be. 

 classed Helopus punctatus, Eragrostis Purshii var. diffusa, Chlo- 

 ns alba, Leptochloa mucronata, as they are tender and eaten with 

 avidity. 



Agrostis verticillata, on the margins of water courses, is a 

 tender and nutritious morsel; so also Eatonia oUusata, less 

 abundant in Arizona, Agrostis exarata by brooks, and Phalaris 

 intermedia, more widely scattered along streams and in wet, cul- 

 tivated soil. 



To cattle straying over miles of arid wastes, nibbling at the 

 leaves of thorny trees and shrubs, or pulling here and there a 

 bitter weed, such grasses as Setaria caudata, Tricuspis pulchella 

 and mutica, Muhleribergia debilis, and even Aristida Americana 

 and A. Humboldtiana, and Bouteloua aristidoides and other 

 species, all scattered in thin tufts over hill and mesa, furnish 

 dainty bits seized upon with avidity. When the summer rains 

 fall abundantly these species renew their growth, or spring up 

 from seed, and grow rapidly, so as to cover the soil with a pretty 

 close growth of herbage, which furnishes an abundant pasturage 

 to fatten herds during the autumn months. Only a small part 

 of this is consumed while green ; but drying up in the droughts 

 of October and November, and being little weather beaten in 

 that dry climate, it serves to sustain the herds through the 

 winter and early spring months. The more densely covered 

 areas are sometimes mown for hay. 



Cottea makes its growth entirely as far as I have observed, 



