118 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY 



pathfinder, General Fremont, in his journey across the 

 continent in the earlier days, and follow their descriptions 

 of the abundance of animal life supported by the native 

 grasses in the arid regions of the Far West. This teem- 

 ing life of the great plains was supported in the winter 

 by the hay cured by the dry winds upon the native stalks. 



There are in the grass family about four thousand 

 species, from the greatest of all — the bamboo — 100 feet 

 high, down to the short buffalo grass of the arid plains. 

 In this numerous family of plants is found the food of 

 nearly all the animals which support the life of man. 

 Civilized man draws his life and strength either directly 

 or indirectly from the grasses of the field. The native 

 grasses of America are amongst the most valuable known 

 to mankind. When Timothy Herd discovered in the 

 marshes of New England, and introduced to his neighbor- 

 ing farmers the native plant that long bore his name, now 

 familiarly shortened into plain " timothy," he conferred 

 a blessing not only upon New England but upon the whole 

 American people. 



The variety of these valuable grasses upon the western 

 plains has been steadily decreasing since the country has 

 been opened to settlement. In the settled portions of the 

 East the intelligence of man has improved the pasturage, 

 whilst the natural herbage of the Far West has been neg- 

 lected because there was no one to care for it. 



There has always been a fascination in the maxim of 

 "free grass," and the fear of monopoly in the hands of 

 the large cattle owners has arrayed many of the settlers, 

 if not the most of them, in the grazing states, against any 

 proposition whatever for the leasing or private control in 

 any way of any portion of the grazing lands. 



The legislature of the state of Montana has by resolu- 

 tions expressed itself against any leasing proposition. 

 The small landowner and the homesteader have looked 



