Page:Zacaton as a paper-making material (IA zacatonaspaperma309bran).pdf/13

 Z AC AT ON AS A

and

PAPER-MAKING MATERIAL.

7

up new shoots profusely. These the tops are immature. Soon, however,

after the rainy season sends

by cattle while become so tough

are relished

the tops that stock refuse to eat

them. The growth is almost entirely a wild one from self-sown seed. The mature panicles are not unlike those of timothy.

Unless

checked by or

cultivation,

fire,

the har-

vesting of the roots, rice-

root grass soon covers a It is not field solidly.

uncommon to find areas many square miles in extent covered densely with this wild

the

fields

grass.

One

harvested

of

by

Mr. McEwen was 3 miles wide and 7 miles long, covered almost entirely by a relatively pure stand of

Fig.

4.-

-Longitudinal section of a culm,

X

343,

showing

Epicampes

sclereids and pith. macroura. The information that has been secured indicates the possibility of growing this grass successfully in some localities in the Southwest, especially for paper-producThree allied ing purposes.

species grow scatteringly from Texas to California. Regarding the climate that prevails in the sections

where zacaton-root harvesting

extensively

is

on, Mr.

McEwen

We have no

means

carried

states: of

determin-

ing the rainfall, but there is a considerable quantity of rain, and the morning dew is almost as

heavy

as the average small shower In Sayula it rains

in the States.

about three months of the year, the rest of the year being dry, and

one Fig. 5.— Cross section of a leaf blade,

X

The very heavy and in the middle it is

not

uncommon

for it to

of

most beautiful climates you can possibly imagine.

of the

that

rains,

drop to 50° at night; this

is

when they come,

are

about 80° F but a good average through the

the day the thermometer

registers