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important as the great feeding ground for the multitudes of cattle which | 
supply the wants of the settled regions of our country as well as the 
constantly increasing foreign demand. The pasturage of this region 
consists essentially of native grasses, some of which have acquired a 
wide reputation for their rich nutritious properties, for their ability to 
withstand the dry seasons, and for the quality of self-drying or curing, 
so as to be available for pasturage in the winter. This quality is due 
probably to the nature of the grasses themselves and to the effect of 
the arid climate. It is well known that in moist countries, at lower 
altitudes, the grasses have much succulence; they grow rapidly, and 
their tissues are soft; a severe frost checks or kills their growth, and 
chemical changes immediately occur which result in rapid decay; 
whereas in the arid climate of the plains the grasses have much less 
succulence, the foliage being more rigid and dry, and therefore when 
their growth is arrested by frost the tissues are not engorged with 
water, the dessicating influence of the climate prevents decay, and the 
grass is kept on the ground in good condition for winter forage. Gen- 
eral Benjamin Alvord, of the U. S. Army, in an article on the subject 
of these winter-cured grasses, states that they only acquire this prop- 
erty on land which is 3,000 feet above the level of the sea. The region 
_ having such an altitude includes, he says, all, nearly up to the timber 
line, of Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada, Colorado, and New 
Mexico; five-sixths of Arizona, one-half of Dakota, one-fourth of Texas, 
one-fifth of Kansas, and one-sixth each of California, Oregon, and 
Washington Territory, embracing about one-fourth of the area of the 
whole United States. 
Many of the grasses of this extensive region are popularly known as 
‘“‘bunch grass,” from their habitof growth; others are known as “mes- 
quite” and “grama grass.” These consist of many species of different 
genera, some of them more or less local and.sparingly distributed, 
others having a wide range from Mexico to British America. 
The most important of the “‘ bunch grasses” may be briefly mentioned 
as follows: Of the genus Stipa there are several species; Stipa comata 
and Stipa setigera occur abundantly in New Mexico, Texas, Arizona, 
and California, reaching to Oregon. In Colorado, Kansas, and all the 
prairie region northward, stretching into British America, Stipa spartea 
is the principal one of the genus. On the higher plateaus and near the 
mountains the Stipa viridula is very common, extending from Arizona 
to Oregon and British America. Somewhat related botanically is Ory- - 
zopsis cuspidata, a very rigid bunch grass, with a fine, handsome panicle 
of flowers. It is equally wide-spread with the preceding. Another 
widely diffused grass is Deschampsia cespitosa, varying much in size 
and thriftiness according to the altitude and amount of moisture where 
it grows, but always having a light, elegant, spreading panicle of 
Silvery gray flowers. 
One of the most extensively diffused grasses: is Keleria cristata, vary- 
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