TEXAS NATURE OBSERVATIONS AND REMINISCENCES, 237 



furnish good food for cattle as well 

 as other animals. 



Our large black and marble- 

 round persimmons are delicious and 

 are also a valuable food for some 

 animals of the prairie, and also to 

 man, as they make a good preserve 

 or jelly. It is well known that the 

 ripe persimmons are a delicious 

 food to birds and many of the 

 wild rodents, and various insects 

 and beetles, and some variety of 

 prairie flies in particular are fond 

 of them; and such animals as 

 coons and opossums and other 



turkeys and opossums, squirrels and 

 other rodents with substantial food; 

 and it is well known how cleverly 

 the rodents gather their supply 

 of acorns and pecans during harvest 

 time, and carefully store away 

 for the pending winter or droughty 

 times. 



Some of the most delicious of 

 wild fruit or berry is offered to 

 man, as the wild grape and the 

 agarita. Of the former there are 

 two kinds: the large "Mustang," 

 and the small black variety. Our 

 rivulets, and in Darticular the 



Wild Grapevines on the San Antonio River 



animals of the plains fatten upon 

 them. Sometimes also squirrels, 

 prairie rats and other rodents, 

 when the pecan and corn crop is 

 short, feed upon persimmons and 

 mesquite beans (as I have occasion- 

 ally seen on hunting trips.) 



The purple-red fruit of the 

 Opnntia cactus also furnish food 

 for many of the wild animals, 

 and often sustains life during 

 severe droughty seasons. The oak 

 trees, when the acorns ripen and 

 fall to the ground, also furnish 

 such animals as deer, wildhogs, 



San Antonio River, the Guadalupe, 

 the Medina and others, are abund- 

 antly supplied with wild Mustang 

 grapes which furnish a most deli- 

 cious jelly and a fine wine, if 

 properly prepared. These immense 

 and rampant grapevines along the 

 rivulets and in forest-bottoms al- 

 ways has been, and always will 

 be a most attractive Nature scene, 

 especially in smmmer' when the 

 branches and vines are covered 

 with bunches of blueish and glitter- 

 ing grapes, which, when near to the 

 ground can easily be gathered : but 



