14 THE AGRICULTURAL GRASSES OF THE UNITED STATES. 



are toothed andlobed, and sometimes running out into a slender point 

 called an awn, sometimes with a bristle or awn on the back, &c. They 

 also vary in size from the twentieth part of an inch to an inch or more in 

 length. 



Authorities consulted. — In the preparation of this work reference has 

 been had to many authorities, both scientific and practical. Among 

 those who have written practically on the uses and the cultivation of 

 grasses the following-named works have been consulted and frequently 

 ^qnoted. Flint on Grasses and Forage Plants ; Grasses and their Culture, 

 by Hon. J. Stanton Gould Manual of Grasses at the South, by 0. W. 

 Howard 5 The Grasses of Tennessee, by J. E. Killebrew ; The Farm- 

 er's Book of Grasses, by Prof. D. L. Phares, of Mississippi. 



It is not thought necessary here to take up a systematic classification 

 of the grasses farther than their arrangement in regular sequence, as 

 the classification will be found fully described in the special report '^o, 

 63. 



WINTER GRAZING IN THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 



An article by General Benjamin Alvord, in a recent Bulletin of the 

 American Geographical Society, with the above title, is deserving of 

 extended publication and of careful study. 



Our space will only allow us to give an abridgment of the article. 



General Alvord says: 



During the last fourteen years a revelation has dawned on the people of the United 

 States, respecting the resources for winter grazing in the whole Rocky Mountain re- 

 gion. It is now known that all land over about 3,000 feet above the level of the sea 

 has these qualities, viz, that without shelter, all the domestic animals can find ample 

 food on the nutritious, summer-cured grasses of (hose plateaus, and that niyriads of 

 those animals are yearly raised by the great capitalists and others in our Western 

 regions. The experiment has now for so many years been tried that it is not con- 

 sidered at all problematical, and although winters of great severity may occur, it is 

 admitted that on an average the losses in the herds by the vicissitudes of the weather 

 do not exceed 5 per cent, of the whole number. 



General Alvord then proceeds to explain why this fact was so long 

 unknown : 



Surely it is extraordinary that so salient a fact as to the resources of this country 

 should not have been fully known until the completion of the Union Pacific Railroad 

 in 1869. My Army station from 1852 to 1865 was in Oregon or Washington Territory, 

 and at Omaha from 1867 to 1871. Thus, I was thrown in the course of my official 

 travels into regions giving me opportunities for observation, which I embraced. But 

 I must confess that notwithstanding my knowledge of the benefits of the cured bunch- 

 grasses in Oregon, east of the Cascade Mountains, and my large intercourse with emi- 

 grants yearly arriving on the Pacific slope, and with the officers and scientists of 

 many exploring expeditions, it was not until during my residence in Omaha and my 

 journeys over the Union Pacific Railroad that I knew of the immense resources for 

 winter grazing on the Rocky Mountain plateaus which cover probably one-fourth of 

 our whole territory. Our total area is 4,000,000 square miles, and we can safely add 

 that the region for winter grazing is about a million of square miles, if not more — not 

 including any portion of Alaska. The moment California, New Mexico, and the other 



