30 



common clovers are successfully grown in some part of the region, 

 alfalfa and red clover being in most general cultivation. Very few of 

 the large ranches are without fields of timothy, redtop, clover, or alfalfa; 

 often all are grown on the same ranch. Sometimes these fields cover 

 hundreds of acres and yield thousands of tons of hay. Almost without 

 .exception they are irrigated, at least for a portion of the season. In 

 many localities the proprietors of the large ranches prefer not to bother 

 with the extensive cultivation of forage crops that would be necessary 

 to properly feed their herds during the winter, depending upon the 

 small ranchmen and farmers in the valleys for their winter forage sup- 

 ply. The liay is sold to the ranchmen, or more often the cattle are 

 brought to tlie farmer and he winters them at so much per head. This 

 winter feeding of range stock is becoming quite an industrj' and could, 

 no doubt, be more generally practiced with advantage to both the large 

 and the small ranch owner. Up to the present time winter feeding is 

 largely, in fact almost entiiely, confined to cows, calves, and bulls: the 

 most of the stock being expected to -'rustle*' its living on the range 

 except during very stormy weather, when a little hay may be fed. 



TIMOTHY. 



Phleum jJratense. 



This is more widely cultivated than any other " tame " grass in the 

 eastern Rocky Mountain region. The cheapness of the seed, the ease 

 with which a meadow can be seeded down, and the excellent (juality of 

 the hay make this grass a great favorite. In most localities irrigation 

 is necessary to grow it successfully, but with plenty of water enormous 

 yields are often obtained, particularly in the rich valleys in the north- 

 ern part of the region. Reports of the successful cultivation of this 

 grass have been received from every county in both Montana and 

 Wyoming, and from nearly every county in Colorado, but always under 

 irrigation except in some of the moister valleys in or near the moun- 

 tains. Sage-brush lands when cleared, irrigated, and seeded to tim- 

 othy make fine meadows, but the greasewood lands are too strongly 

 im])regnated witli alkali. Timothy can be grown successfully at a 

 higher altitude than most of the other commonly grown grasses, and is 

 becoming quite generally established in waste places and along trails 

 throughout the entire region. Several of the field agents of the divi- 

 sion have reported finding it well established in many places in the 

 mountains. Professor Pammcl found it llonrishing at an elevation of 

 10,.jOO ieet in northern Colorado, and the writer found it at a similar 

 elevation in the central part of the State. In the Bear Lodge ]Moun- 

 tains and in the Black Hills it is very abundant at 5,000 and (1,000 

 feet, making a very fine growth, and is sj)reading very ra])idly in 

 moist, open situations along the trails. In the Big Horn Mountains of 

 Wyoming and in the Spanish Basin in Montana it was found to be 

 abundant, growing with alpine timothy {Phleum alpinum L. ) ar liom 



