

STOCK RAISING AS RELATED TO THE FORESTS. 33 



Sharp, broken pieces of the woody portion of this species are often 

 found embedded in the rumen of cattle that have fed in the forest. 



The settlers in the Oceur d'Alenes must have access to the forest as 

 a range for their stock, or, except in a few cases, they could not keep 

 any cattle. A quarter section is rarely composed entirely of bottom 

 land except in some portions of the valleys along the slack water. 

 Usually a quantity of forest, some steep ravines, and rocky hillsides 

 form a considerable portion of the farm. The small amount of bottom 

 land must be rigorously preserved for purposes of hay and garden or 

 field products. Sometimes the farm is all forest and there is no natural 

 hay land whatever. When, as is the case in the central and upper St. 

 Mary valley, we find the settlers depending almost wholly upon cat- 

 tle raising for their support, and observe the small and poor range they 

 have for their stock, and that it is rapidly growing less by over pastur- 

 ing, the question is forcibly presented, Would it not be to the ultimate 

 advantage of them, as well as to the country at large, if all forest lands 

 were absolutely withdrawn from entry and set apart as timber reserves? 



I have not found that the free range of the cattle through the forests 

 is at all detrimental to the conservation of it. They do not eat the coni- 

 fers, and the deciduous trees and shrubs which are eaten by them in 

 the young stage, or browsed off when they grow older, are of no conse- 

 quence in any way. Young conifers are, as a matter of course, broken 

 down by their trails, but the damage due to this cause is on the whole 

 insignificant. They prefer to range through the more open portions 

 where saplings and young trees are not so abundant, leaving the denser 

 parts untouched. If agricultural settlements are to be permitted to go 

 on in the timbered regions of the Comr d'Alenes, there is no reason why 

 the unlimited use of the forest as a stock range should not be permitted, 

 so far as the possible damage done by the cattle is concerned. 



There is, however, another aspect to this question which puts the 

 matter of stock raising in a forested region in another light. It has 

 been found that by burning off the timber the grass growth is greatly 

 increased. New species come in, those that were there before grow 

 more robust and acquire a much denser stand, and seeds of various kinds 

 of cultivated grasses will take root and grow if sown at the proper time 

 upon the loose soil which results from the burning process. When a 

 settler lives in the white pine region, or in any other where the timber is 

 heavy, the temptation to burn the forest and make larger and better 

 range for his stock is very great, and it is morally certain many will 

 yield to it. For proof of this it is but necessary to observe the numer- 

 ous instances in which fires have spread "by accident" from clearings 

 into the adjoining forest. Stock raising and farming in the heavy forest 

 regions of the Coeur d'Alenes is not profitable, and does not furnish a 

 living to those engaged in it. Many have to supplement the income 

 from these sources by the wages they can earn in the harvest fields of 

 eastern Washington or in the mines of the home region. 



