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
