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Show 137 From Las Vegas to Trinidad, along the eastern base of the main Rocky Mountain chain, are a number of settlements, the largest of which are Mora aud Cimarron. The larger creeks are Cimarron and Yermijos, with tolerably wide valleys that can be irrigated and capable of supporting almost as large a population as the valleys of the Ocate* and Rayado. Trinidad, however, on the northern side of the Raton Mountains and in the valley of the Animas, is a very prosperous town, with a bright future. In the neighboring valley of the river are over 230,000 head of cattle aud 500,000 head of sheep. The grazing is good, while the river carries a sufficient body of water to irrigate large areas. Besides agricultural facilities, there are beds of splendid gas- coal aud good iron- ore in the vicinity. A sample of the soil, from a short distance south of the town, proved to be of good quality; the result of its analysis is as follows: Potassa - , 0.090 Lirao 0.349 Magnesia 0.034 Alumina, oxide of iron 2.42 Phosphoric acid ..- 0.071 Hygroscopic water 1.89 Chemically- bound water and organic matter 1.90 Insoluble in hydrochloric acid 92.24 ON THE CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF GRASSES AND THE A8HKS OF PLANTS. The science of the geographical distribution of plants teaches us which species of grasses are adapted to certain altitudes, latitudes, climates, & c, but it does not reveal the varying values of these different grasses as material for food, nor does it show what chemical differences are produced under these varying circumstances. Recent investigations relating to the influence of atmospheric pressure upon germination show that an increased altitude does not correspond in all particulars to a higher latitude. In this connection, Mr. Bert has found that diminished pressure retards germination, a fact due to the diminished tension of the oxygen. If, however, iu air of low pressure the amount of oxygen be artificially increased, germination is again normal. On the other hand, it was found that a pressure increased to about five atmospheres had an unfavorable effect on germination, due to the increased tension of the carbonic acid formed in the process of sprouting. The nature of the soil also has, in many cases, an important relation to the kind of grass upon it, and'also to its chemical composition, decrease or increase of fibrous, saccharine, or extractive material. The more mineral substance and fiber a grass contaius, the less of course is its value, the fiber being indigestible, and being mainly ballast to fill the intestines during the process of digestion and extraction of the nutritive matters of the grass; in regard to solubility, the latter substances are of three kinds, viz: 1. Substances soluble iu water, as 8 a gar, gum, tartrates, citrates, malates, amido compounds, as asparagin, & c. 2. Substances soluble in warm dilute hydrochloric acid, as starch, certain amido compounds, certain albuminates and glncosides; the starch and glucogides becoming transformed into sugar. These two classes of substances will be digested easily in the gastric juice of the herbivorous animals, becoming soluble and absorbed by the system. 3. Substances soluble in a warm diluted potassa solution, comprising certaiu albuminate fats, aud the incrusting substance of the cells. The substances of this last class are indigestible in the stomach, but become at least partially soluble by the pau-creatic juice after leaving the stomach. This is due to the fact that the pancreatic juice has an alkaline reaction, while the gastric juice has an acid one. An interesting question is that as to the effect of different grasses in the raising of stock. We know that the meat of Texan cattle by no means equals that of the cattle of the Eastern States; the former sells the more readily because it is the cheaper, and not hy any means because it is the better. No doubt the composition of the grasses on which Texan cattle feed has a certain, though perhaps not an exclusive, effect to produce inferior meat. On the other hand, New Mexico grows the best wool in the United States, and it must be admitted that the nature of the grasses on which the New Mexican sheep feed has much to do with the superiority of the wool of that section. New Mexico, as a plateau averaging 5,000 feet in altitude, and penetrated by a large number of mountain- chains of an altitude of 10,000 feet aud more, has, of course, qnite a variety of climates, which are modified still more by the dry atmosphere of that country ; hence the great variety of grasses met with. While the principal grasses of the 6,000 to 8,000 altitudes are the gramma, among which Bouteloua farna, B. oligos tachga, and B. hirsute hold prominent positions, Bromus, Jgrostis, Foa, and Featuca are in altitudes of 9,000 to 10,000 feet, covering the meadows amid the gigantic forests of pine and fir. As regards lower altitudes than 6,000 feet, the growth of grass becomes more and more scanty. The sheep of New Mexico feed principally on the gramma LL- 10 |
