AGRICULTURAL GRASSES OF MONTANA. 87 



patches, or thin tufts, on pine barren plains, where there is 

 nothing else to feed deer. 



Elymua condensatus grows in thin clumps, or small, scattered 

 patches ; its leaves, though tough and hard, are stripped off hy 

 hungry animals. 



Oryzopsis cuspidata, Sporobolu* airoides and Stipa speciosa are 

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

 occasional bite, palatable, though tough to chew, to antelopes, 

 and to strolling cattle and sheep. 



Glyceria pauciflora, 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 nutritious 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. 

 No 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 

 tenuifolia and P. Pringlii, on bare mountain tops 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 equivalvis, 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 



