TEXAS GRASSES AND HAYS 403 



can readily get a good hold on the same ground. Like all other 

 grasses, however, it avoids shady places, yet it constitutes the 

 principal native pasture plant, as well as meadow plant, for east 

 Texas. This grass derives the name "carpet grass" from its carpet- 

 like sod. Cattle relish it very much, even more than they do Ber- 

 muda grass and very much more than they do Paspalum dilatatum. 



Buckley is called the "Colorado bottom grass" in Texas. It is an 

 annual about 3' tall and is generally found throughout plowed 

 ground over a large portion of middle Texas, especially the black 

 land between the Colorado and Brazos Rivers. In this district it 

 is highly prized as a hay plant, as it furnishes one of the most 

 nutritious hays and very abundant yields. It readily reseeds itself, 

 and starts its growth 1 in June. It may readily be cut several times 

 during the summer in the rainy season before the root is exhausted. 



Para grass is a very coarse but nutritious annual 3' to 

 6' tall. It has especially taken hold of the alluvial irrigated lands 

 of the western coast country. It is not very much cultivated in 

 Texas due perhaps to the fact that the people are not well acquaint- 

 ed with it, but in the Rio Grande Valley it speedily occupies all 

 cultivated lands not continually plowed during the summer, giving 

 immense crops of the very best hay. 



Bouteloua Oligostachya, is one of the many so-called "grama- 

 grasses" of the western plains. It is a perennial and a bunch grass, 

 but the bunches crowd each other so as to form almost a contin- 

 uous sod. It is perhaps one of the most abundant and highly prized 

 grasses of the cattle-raising belt, having the same quality of the 

 grasses of the arid region, namely, curing into hay during 

 the dry weather and speedily recovering its green and succulent 

 nature after a shower. Besides this, there are several other species 

 of Bouteloua, all highly valued by cattlemen, and nearly all cover- 

 ing the same area ; that is, the great plains west of the 100th meri- 

 dian. 



Buffalo grass is found in great abundance 'over the great prairies 

 west of the so-called "cross timbers" in Texas. It is a low, compact 

 growth, giving a patch of it the appearance of a well-cared-for lawn, 

 inasmuch as the leaf shoots only reach the height of 4" to 6", but 

 the herbage is abundant, as it is very dense. This grass besides 

 being one of the most highly-prized pasture plants of Texas, is 

 exceedingly suitable for lawn purposes. It has a vivid green color 

 and even growth, which makes it superior for that purpose to 



