98 NATIVE GRASSES OF NORTHERN MEXICO. 



beside them on their ponies, and the women carry them on their 

 backs or heads, trundling painfully behind the ponies. How 

 many times I have contended with the horrid mesquite bushes to 

 gather an armful of this grass to carry joyfully to my hungry 

 and jaded horses. 



Muhlenfiergia gracilis, Trin., thrives on cool, grassy summits 

 of mountains, perhaps the most important element in the pastur- 

 age of such ranges. It grows in small clumps about two feet 

 high, and is rather wiry and tough. 



Sporobolus Wrightii, Munro, grows along water courses, form- 

 ing great clumps, nearly contiguous, four to six feet high. 

 These are browsed down by stock within a ^oot or two of the 

 ground. The culms are stout and stiff and the leaves long and 

 conspicuous. They appear to be acceptable to animals. It is to 

 this species notably that the Mexicans apply the name Zacaton 

 or Zacate grass, meaning great grass. The same name is given 

 to other species. 



Bouteloua Mrsuta is a common grass on rocky, dry soil of the 

 hills and plains, with rather wiry culms. The quality is equal 

 to the most of the species enumerated, and furnishes an impor- 

 tant proportion of the forage of the region. 



Bouteloua oligostachya, Torr., var. pallida, Scrib., is the most 

 abundant species of the plains, especially abundant, and forms a 

 close sod in the less arid portions. In amount of yield and in 

 quality it is surpassed by no common grass of the plains, and is 

 the one native species adapted to permanent mowing. I believe 

 it would bear the effects of close grazing in enclosed areas. 



Bouteloua Harvardi, Vasey, I find to be the most valuabla 

 pasture grass of the hills and mesas around the city of Chihua- 

 hua. It is perennial and forms- a sod more or less interrupted. 

 It is tender and nutritious, and 'is kept closely cropped during 

 most of the year. 



