40 RANGE IMPROVEMENT IN CENTRAL TEXAS. 
counties of central Texas, including Taylor County. It is not certain 
where it originated, but it has been during many years past one of the 
best known and most valuable grasses in each of the several sections 
mentioned. In the Colorado Valley it made its appearance each year 
about the time the corn crop was ready to be laid by, when it would 
cover the fields, and the hay and grass would be almost as valuable as 
thecorncrop. In the Abilene country (Taylor and adjoining counties) 
farmers regard it as by all odds the best hay grass. It produces large 
quantities of seeds that germinate well, and the growth of the grass in 
the late summer and early fall is astonishingly fast. Tests made in 
connection with the grass-garden work were in every way satisfactory. 
It was clearly demonstrated that this 
erass is easily propagated from the 
seed, does not become a weed, makes 
a great deal of splendid hay that is 
readily cured, and keeps well either 
in bulk or in bales. It has much the 
habit of crab grass, but is coarser, 
and does not become a nuisance in 
the cultivated fields, as the crab 
grass often does. Then, too, it is 
easily gotten rid of on the farms, 
which can not be said of crab grass. 
As a hay grass it ranks with the 
very best throughout central Texas. 
(See fig. 2.) 
Corton Top Grass (Panicum lochnanthum). 
This is not a very common grass 
in central Texas. It is to be found 
in all of the counties, but only here 
and there in cultivated fields. Only 
a few seeds were gathered, and 
they were sown in drills in the 
Fic. 2.—Colorado grass (Panicum texanum). grass garden and germinated satis- 
factorily. The long dry spells in 
1899 and 1900 operated much against the growth, but it grew fairly 
well. Under cultivation it did not develop as satisfactorily as did the 
few volunteer bunches that were not cultivated. The latter grew to 
be about 2 to 24 feet high, the bunches were rather large, there was 
an abundance of leafage, the stems were not large or harsh, and the 
seed crop was fairly good. No difficulty was experienced in curing 
the grass, and the hay, though light, was excellent in quality and much 
relished by stock to which it was fed. It is a good hay grass for cen- 
tral Texas, but not equal in value to some others herein discussed. 
