252 GRASSES OP THE INTERIOR. 



tinent, and they are also far more nutritious. I have 

 seen seven different kinds of clover " (not analogous to 

 the true clovers), " several of them in a dry state, depos- 

 iting a seed upon the ground so abundant as to cover 

 it, which is eaten by cattle, horses, and other animals, 

 as corn and oats, when threshed, would be. All the 

 grasses — and they cover the entire country — are 

 heavily seeded, and when ripe are as fattening to stock 

 as other grains." 



The grains are, indeed, the product of the great con- 

 tinental interior of the Eastern continent, and belong to 

 arid climates wholly in their original state. By analogy, 

 we might look for high graminaceous forms "in the inte- 

 rior of this continent, but it is not known that any bread 

 grain has had its origin in climates similar to our own. 

 Maize is one of the grasses or higher graminaceous 

 plants; but this had a tropical origin, and it is, wherever 

 grown, of a purely tropical type. 



The grasses of the American interior are singular in 

 all respects, and, so far as known, have no analogous 

 forms in Asia. Too little is known, however, of the 

 nutritious grasses of the interior of the Old World, to 

 institute a comparison of its forms found in arid climates 

 with those produced here. It may be briefly referred 

 to as a most desirable point for investigation, however, 

 and the continuance of the examination respecting cli- 

 matic adaptation for the great interior area of our agri- 

 culture is urged by the strongest consideration of both 

 private and national economy. 



Fremont remarks of the value of these indigenous 

 grasses, as found in his earlier expedition to the Great 

 Basin and to Oregon : " The grazing capabiHties of this 

 region are great, and in the indigenous grasses an ele- 

 ment of individual and national wealth may be found. 

 In fact, the valuable grasses begin within one hundred 

 and fifty miles of the Missouri frontier, and extend to 

 the Pacific Ocean. East of the Rocky Mountains, it is 

 the short curly grass, on which the buffalo delight to 

 feed (whence its name of buffalo grass), and which is 

 still good when dry and apparently dead. West of the 



