118 THE BEEF BONANZA. 



and stronger than the other grasses, and thus reaching 

 above the snow after a severe storm. It grows upon 

 the hills and in many places on the mountains, and on 

 the divide, but it is very difficult to find far out upon 

 the open plains' ; it grows with a stem at least a foot 

 high, and after the summer cure has a light-yellow leaf, 

 tinged with red. The bottom-land or hay-grasses are 

 altogether different from those of the upland plains, 

 and consist chiefly of a large leaf marsh grass, differing 

 from that of Illinois and Indiana by having a smooth 

 instead of a serrated edge ; also a sweet stem, colored 

 blue, and with a red top. These prairie-grasses, always 

 looking dry and brown, strike the eye of the farmer 

 from the New England States very unfavorably. But 

 short, velvety, and brown as they are they are no doubt 

 the richest in the world, as they not only carry cattle 

 and sheep through the winter fit for beef (the markets 

 of Colorado never saw stall-fed beef), but actually ad- 

 vance the grade of all stock fed upon them." 



General Cameron is no doubt correct in all he says 

 about Colorado grasses, but I have seen gramma six 

 inches high in the Powder River country, and loaded 

 with seed on perfectly dry plains. The buffalo grass 

 there is also five and six inches high, and so soft and 

 • dry it might be used for stuffing cushions. 



