32 THE PLAINS. 



were to rne then, and are still, one of the most remark- 

 able and unaccountable freaks of nature on the plains. 

 The soil and general surface inside and outside the timber 

 are apparently the same. The belts cross streams which 

 just above and below are as bare as any other portion of 

 the plains. Water does not widen them ; the high dry 

 plain does not contract them. They are inexplicable. 



Except the arid alkali deserts, and "those given over to 

 sand and sage-brush, the whole prairie is covered with 

 grass. Even the lava-covered tops of the first plain fur- 

 nish sufficient soil to dress them with a ragged coat of 

 green, while the canons are frequently fairly supplied 

 with nutritious grasses. The higher portions of the 

 second plain are covered with the famed buffalo-grass. 

 It covers the ground very thickly, to the exclusion of other 

 grasses, or even of flowers. The blades are short, but 

 two or three inches long, and curl upon themselves, form- 

 ing a thick close mat of beautiful sward, green as emerald 

 in early spring, but of a yellowish grey later in the 

 season. This grass is extremely nutritious, and a favourite 

 with graminivorous animals at all times and seasons. Its 

 best quality is that it does not, like other grasses, dry up 

 and become withered and lifeless from the dry heat of 

 summer, but seems to cure itself as hay uncut, and pre- 

 serve through the fall and winter all its nutritive 

 qualities. 



In Texas there is a fine grass growing to the height 

 of two, and under very good conditions of three, feet, 

 called the ' gramma- grass.' The ' buffalo-grass ' of the 

 high plains and this ' gramma-grass,' though entirely 

 different in growth and appearance, are really identical. 

 This I discovered accidentally. At Fort Dodge I had a 

 small piece of ground covered with sods of buffalo-grass 

 taken from the high prairie. It was watered daily, and 

 otherwise well cared for. To my great astonishment it 

 appeared to change its whole nature, grew tall and rank, 

 and in due time developed the seed-heads of the true 



