87 



in Italy, with favoflable results in preventing the spread of 

 noxious exhalations from the marshes. The healthful in- 

 fluence of the piney woods of the States bordering on the 

 Gulf of Mexico has long been known ; ' hence, many 

 owners of plantations on the alluvial soils of rivers and 

 streams have .their homes in pine woods, sometimes two or 

 three miles distant from their farms. Lieutenant Maury 

 believed that a few rows of sunflowers planted between 

 the Observatory at Washington and the Potomac marshes, 

 had saved the inmates of the Observatory from the 

 intermittent fevers to which they had been liable. 



The uniform . temperature and hiimidity of forests, ex- 

 cept in trppical climates, are considered to be favorable to 

 health. 



Fifteen years ago I went from Austin by way of San 

 Antonio to Corpus Christi, and returned by a different 

 route passing over much prairie land. Again last spring 

 (1875), 1 passed over a large portioii of the same country, 

 and vras surprised to find many of the prairies of 1860, 

 thickly overgrown with a large growth of mesquite trees. 

 These trees may be and probably are one cause of the in- 

 creased rain fall of that region. 



GRASSES. 



Both central and wesstern Texas are peculiarly rich in 

 nutricious native grasses, good for both hay and pasturage. 

 A small mesquite grass, which is common in central Texas, 

 extends westward to the Pecos, beyond which I only saw 

 it in one place in the Escojidedo valley, on the Fort Stock- 

 ton roa,d. It is the BucMoa of botanists, and the buifalo 

 .grass of the western plains outside of Texas. It is about 

 six inches high, fo'rms a dense turf, often has stolons or 

 rnnners one to two feet long, by which it is rnostly propa- 

 gated, its seeds being few and on different plants from 

 those having the male flower. 



West of the Pecos there are two or more species of 

 "jgrama" grass {ChrondfOsium), valuable for their hay and 

 .pasturage ; a large species {Chrondrosiumfoenum)^ having 

 height of frorn two to three feet ma;kes an excellent ha,y, 

 being said to be almost as good fodder as oats. It is com- 

 mon in Presidio a,nd El Paso counties. Another species of 

 grama grows in tufts about twelve inches high, on the grav- 

 ely uplands of the Rio Grande valley. This is also useful 



