470 



and cultivated fields cause it to be highly esteemed by sheep herders 

 and cattlemen in years of drought. Fed to cows, it increases the 

 flow of milk, but causes laxity if too much is given at once. 



Prosopis jiilifiora (Mesquite tree ; screw bean. Fig. 27). A 

 thorny, leguminous shrub, growing in favored localities to a tree 

 20 to 40 feet high, with a trunk 2 l / 2 feet in diameter. It is widely 

 distributed from Texas to southern California, through tropical 



FIG. 28. Mexican clover (RicharJsouia scabra). 



America to Argentina. The leaves are very good browsing for 

 horses and cattle. It bears two crops of beans a year, which are 

 next to barley for fattening horses, cattle, sheep, and hogs. The 

 leaves, pods, and bark are rich in tannin, and a gum, similar to gum 

 arable, exudes copiously from the trunk and branches. The wood 

 is hard, strong, and durable, and takes a hard polish. It is the most 

 common woody plant of the mesas of the south-west, and because 

 of its many uses is an exceedingly valuable species. 



