The Extermination of the American BisonHornaday, William T. (William Temple)
History
The Extermination of the American Bison
Hornaday, William T. (William Temple)
American bison; Wildlife conservation -- United States -- Sources
On bottom-lands, where moisture is abundant, this grass develops much
more luxuriantly, growing in a close mass, and often to a height of a
foot or more, if not grazed down, when it is cut for hay, and sometimes
yields 11/2 tons to the acre. In Montana and the north it is generally
known as "buffalo-grass," a name to which it would seem to be fully
entitled, notwithstanding the fact that this name is also applied, and
quite generally, to another species, the next to be noticed.
_Buchloë dactyloides_ (Southern buffalo-grass).--This species is next
in value and extent of distribution to the grama grass. It also is found
all over the great plains south of Nebraska and southern Wyoming, but
not further north, although in many localities it occurs so sparsely as
to be of little account. A single bunch of it very greatly resembles
_Bouteloua oligostachya_, but its general growth is very different. It
is very short, its general mass seldom rising more than 3 inches above
the ground. It grows in extensive patches, and spreads by means of
stolons, which sometimes are 2 feet in length, with joints every 3 or 4
inches. Owing to its southern distribution this might well be named the
Southern buffalo grass, to distinguish it from the two other species of
higher latitudes, to which the name "buffalo" has been fastened forever.
_Stipa spartea_ (Northern buffalo-grass; wild oat).--This grass is found
in southern Manitoba, westwardly across the plains to the Rocky
Mountains, and southward as far as Montana, where it is common in many
localities. On what was once the buffalo range of the British
Possessions this rank grass formed the bulk of the winter pasturage, and
in that region is quite as famous as our grama grass. An allied species
(_Stipa viridula_, bunch-grass) is "widely diffused over our Rocky
Mountain region, extending to California and British America, and
furnishing a considerable part of the wild forage of the region" _Stipa
spartea_ bears an ill name among stockmen on account of the fact that at
the base of each seed is a very hard and sharp-pointed callus, which
under certain circumstances (so it is said) lodges in the cheeks of
domestic animals that feed upon this grass when it is dry, and which
cause much trouble. But the buffalo, like the wild horse and half-wild
range cattle, evidently escaped this annoyance. This grass is one of the
common species over a wide area of the northern plains, and is always
found on soil which is comparatively dry. In Dakota, Minnesota, and
northwest Iowa it forms a considerable portion of the upland prairie
hay.
Of the remaining grasses it is practically impossible to single out any
one as being specially entitled to fourth place in this list. There are
several species which flourish in different localities, and in many
respects appear to be of about equal importance as food for stock. Of
these the following are the most noteworthy:
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