FEED O^ THE RANGE. 21 



much to do with its persistenc}' under heavj^ pasturing. It has been 

 reported to me that the expense of clearing a piece of ground of sac- 

 caton is as great as the clearing of an equal area of mesquit timber. 

 The feed from this source is very coarse and is usually considered of 

 an inferior quality, but, like the saltbushes, it furnishes feed when 

 nothing else can be found. Of similar utility is the salt grass (Dis- 

 fichlis spicata), which is grazed to a large extent during seasons of 

 of short feed. It is much inferior in feeding quality" to the saccaton. 

 During the dr}' season of 1900 it is said to have saved manj^ herds of 

 cattle from starvation in the Sulphur Spring Valley, where there are 

 thousands of acres of it and where either from the effect of alkali or 

 overstocking nothing else grows. On sandy portions of the river bot- 

 toms may be found considerable quantities of drop-seed (Sporoholus 

 c?*//79/a/K7?'?/s), S. sir ictus, and Arizona millet {Cliwtochloa coinposita). 



The most important nutritious grasses which i)redominate on the 

 open mesa range are black grama [Hilar ia mutica), H. jamesei, 

 curly mesquite [H. cencliroides), blue gva^uia {Bouteloua oUgostacJiya), 

 low grama {B. pohjstacliija), wolh'-foot {B. eriopoda), side oats grama 

 {B. curtipendida), and black heads {Pappopliorum wrightii). In 

 depressions where water accumulates after summer rains good growths 

 of ChJoris elegans, everlasting grass (Eriochloa punctata)^ vine mes- 

 quite [Panicum ohtusum), P. coloninn, and Eragrostis neomexicana 

 are found. In such moist localities, where close pasturing is not the 

 rule, there may usually be found also fine growths of feather grass 

 (Andropogon iorreyanus). This grass, however, is never seen on the 

 unprotected range in an}' quantit}'. Large areas were encountered on 

 the railroad right of way in the vicinity of Cochise in 1900. On the 

 open range one seldom finds it, except where protected by the thorns 

 of the mesquite or si^ines of the cactus. On the general mesa, where 

 the soil does not wash badlj', there are in variably" found large quan- 

 tities of six weeks grama [Boideloua aristidoides) after the summer 

 rains. This si^ecies, known pox^ularly as six- weeks grass, furnishes 

 a great, deal of excellent feed for a short time. Besides the above 

 should be mentioned several species of Muhlenhergia and Arisiida^ 

 which for short periods furnish much feed of an inferior quality. 

 The i)receding description would apply fairl}^ Avell for 1900 to the Sul- 

 phur Spring Valley. The quantity diminished gradually to the Avest- 

 ward as far as Tucson, Avhere, although the species mentioned above 

 were commonly found, there was but little feed furnished by the 

 native grasses. During the second week in October large areas on 

 the gentle slopes near the foothills in the San Pedro Valley were 

 very fairlj' covered with short growths of Boideloua aristidoides, B. 

 polystachya, Pappopliorum urriglitii, and Nazia aliena. 



The adaptability of the grasses, as well as the other vegetation in 

 this region to conditions of environment, is something wonderful. 

 Variation in size as the direct influence of quantity of moisture is often 



