. Camps in the Rockies [microform] : being a narrative of life on the frontier, and sport in the Rocky Mountains, with an account of the cattle ranches of the West. Camping; Hunting; Camping; Chasse. 33^ Camps in the Rockies, Western North America are grievously disappointed. The Missouri once passed, the verdant green, the most pro- minent feature of our own pastoral landscape, vanishes totally, and the traveller on the great Trans-Continental Railway will see for upwards of 1000 miles hardly a tree; and his eyes, accustomed to our home grass-land, will be painfully struck by the arid, waterl
. Camps in the Rockies [microform] : being a narrative of life on the frontier, and sport in the Rocky Mountains, with an account of the cattle ranches of the West. Camping; Hunting; Camping; Chasse. 33^ Camps in the Rockies, Western North America are grievously disappointed. The Missouri once passed, the verdant green, the most pro- minent feature of our own pastoral landscape, vanishes totally, and the traveller on the great Trans-Continental Railway will see for upwards of 1000 miles hardly a tree; and his eyes, accustomed to our home grass-land, will be painfully struck by the arid, waterless, and ver- dureless aspect of the country. If he travels across this vast district late in summer or in autumn, it will seem totally destitute of grass; for the blades, or rather bunches, of buffalo grass, of such singularly nourishing properties, have long been dried up and cured by summer heat. Instead of rotting away and losing every atom of strength, as European grasses do if they are not cut in time, they retain all their most valuable qualities ; in fact, it is generally maintained that this self-cured hay, as we might term it, is more nutritious for cattle than fresh grass, which, as in the case of green clover-feed for horses, fills, but does not nourish. However this may be, it is certain that all the various kinds of cattle imported from the east, south, and west flourish on it. A herd of 5000 head will feed the year round and grow fat on a stretch of arid-looking table-land, where an English farmer, if he saw it in autumn, would vow there was not sufficient grazing for his children's donkey. There are, of course, different degrees in the quality of grazing-land ; some are very much superior to others, and these latter are generally to be found in the neighbourhood of great ranges of moun- tains. If we examine the natural features of the Great Plains, we find that, with very few exceptions no part of them will feed nearly as many cattle, sheep, or horses to the I.
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, booksubjecthunting, bookyear1882
