I^OVEMBER 37, 1885.] 



SGIEJSrCE. 



469 



About 100 species of trees and shrubs are re- 

 corded as growing on the north-western plains, 

 while the Hst of herbaceous plants is a very long 

 one. A good many noxious weeds have been in- 

 troduced with civihzation, and some flourish most 

 aggressively. The worst pests are Canada thistles, 

 wild mustard, oats and buckwheat. The Thlaspi 

 arvensis, or mithridate mustard, commonly known 

 as ' penny cress,' is a great nuisance in the Red 

 River valley, where it sprouts and flowers in 

 spring, surrounded by snowbanks, and exposed to 

 severe frosts. Sunflowers rise abundantly wher- 

 ever the soil has been disturbed, and ought to be 

 utilized. Insect and fungoid pests to crops are 

 remarkably scarce, though the Rocky Mountain 

 locust has at times invaded the Red River valley. 



The grasses are many, and those called ' buff alo- 

 ^'ass' attract the first attention. True buffalo- 

 grass (Buchloe), however, is not found north of 

 the boundary. The buffalo-gTasses of that region 

 are Butchelona ohgostachia, representing the 

 gramina grasses of the south-western United 

 States ; and Stipea spartea, more often called 

 'spear-grass,' or by several names indicating what 

 Dr. Holmes calls its 'diabohsh' characteristics. 

 The young spring leaves of the Stipea spartea are 

 the most succulent and nutritive of all the prairie- 

 grasses, which, as a rule, are harsh and sedge-like; 

 they are short, and form themselves into tussocks 

 (most noticeably in dry uplands), wliich, though 

 useless in making hay, provide a very valuable 

 pasturage. It spreads over the entire north-west, 

 and is most plentiful on the buffalo plains, where 

 it stood as the staff of life to the vast herds of 

 wild cattle once ranging those limitless opens. 



The pecuharity which earns for it the evil names 

 'spear-grass,' ' wild oat,' etc., belongs to the fruit. 

 The covering of the seed is about seven-eighths of 

 an inch long, and terminates in an excessively 

 hard, sharp, and obliquely curved poiat ; the ex- 

 treme tip is bare, but close behind are set stiff, 

 fine, silky hahs, all pointing backwards and up- 

 wards. The seed is borne at the end of an awn, 

 which is kinked and twisted in a peculiar way, so 

 that when dampened it gradually straightens out 

 with a corkscrew motion, the effect of which 

 (whatever its 'design') is to force the spear 

 of the seed forward and spirally into what- 

 ever it happens to be pressed against, while 

 the barb-hairs aid the penetration and prevent 

 easy withdrawal. Darwin's experiments with 

 the awns of an allied but less formidable 

 sjjecies (S. pennata) will be remembered; while 

 the Proceedings of the Linnean society of Lon- 

 don, 1884, contain an account of experiments 

 with S. spartea itself, by R. Miller Christy. 



The seeds ripen about the middle of July, and 



are at that time troublesome, as they have the 

 power of penetrating the clothing and pricking 

 the skin painfully. An insect-collector finds them 

 a great nuisance, since they knit his net into hard 

 knots in a short time. Woolly-haired dogs 

 are tormented by them, and this grass has always 

 been dreaded by sheep-owners and cattle-herders. 

 Most of the stories told of it, nevertheless, are 

 gross exaggerations, though it is true that they do 

 get into wool badly, and sometimes penetrate the 

 skin. On the extensive sheep-ranges at the foot 

 of the mountain it is now customary, before stock- 

 ing a certain range, to bum over one-half of it a 

 year in advance, before the spear-grass has had 

 time to ripen. The sheep are introduced to the 

 new grass the next spring, and feed upon it while 

 the remaining half of the range is burned. When 

 that is ready, they are moved and the first haK is 

 reburned. By this means the spear-grass is said 

 to be got rid of in two or three years, and wiQ not 

 return so long as the sheep remain. 



Horses and cattle live upon this grass on the 

 wild plains without harm. Prof. John Macoun of 

 Ottawa told me that in seven years of plains 

 travel Ms horses had never been harmed. The 

 object of the mechanism of the awn ax^parently is 

 to insure its planting by being pushed well into the 

 ground ; this accomplished, the awn soon rots off, 

 and the seed germinates. Mr. Miller, in his Lin- 

 nean society paper, points out how the buffalo 

 paid for his pasturage by transporting the seeds of 

 this best of grasses in his rough coat, extending 

 its distribution by planting them wherever his 

 mats of shedding wool fell off in the spring. Thus 

 this beast constantly widened its feeding range, 

 and provided for its increase in numbers. Of 

 course, this grass was not the only plant thus 

 carried by seeds north, south, east, and west, by 

 the migrating herds ; nor was the bison the only 

 animal whose hairy coat would carry the clinging 

 awns. 



The buffaloes have abandoned all the region 

 south of the Saskatchewan since 1878. Even their 

 bones have been pretty thoroughly picked up. 

 The little tributary of the Qu'AppeUe River, upon 

 which Regina, the capital of Assiniboia (province), 

 is situated, is called Pile of Bones Creek, after a 

 great heap of bones, chiefly bovine, which formerly 

 lay upon its bank where the Crees had a favorite 

 camp-ground. It would have been a ' bonanza ' 

 for the archeologist, doubtless ; but an unscien- 

 tific person shipped the whole heap away to 

 Philadelphia and sold it, rehcs and all, at five 

 dollars a ton. One sees aU along the railway 

 track now, just as used to be the case in Kansas 

 and Nebraska, mounds of buffalo skeletons ready 

 for shipment to fertilizer factories. At many 



