34 



clovers. Ou rich loamy soils, with abundant irrigation, it seems to do 

 quite well. Favorable reports have been received from several points 

 in central Colorado and central and southern Montana. Mr. Griffiths 

 found it doing well in northeastern Wyoming. It is frequently met 

 with along irrigating ditches and in public parks in the cities and 

 towns, often occurring in waste places as an escape and already well 

 established in favorable situations. It does not seem to thrive in soils 

 containing much alkali. At the Utah Station this grass has been grown 

 with fine success as an element in permanent pastures and meadows, 

 and it is altogether likely that it can be so used in many portions of 

 the Eocky Mountain region. Many native forms of both sheep fescue 

 {Festuca ovina) (fig. 7) and red fescue {Festuca rubra) occur in this 

 region, and although the cultivated varieties have been given little, if 

 any, attention, it is not unlikely that they could be used to advantage 

 in reseeding the ranges, particularly in the foothills and lower moun- 

 tains. 



ORCHARD GRASS. 

 DactylU glomerata. 



Like meadow fescue, tliis grass has received but little attention from 

 farmers and ranchmen in this region. It has been tried at the 

 experiment stations, sometimes with success and sometimes without. 

 It requires fairly rich soil and a reasonable amount of moisture, and 

 hence thrives best on irrigated lands of the valleys and benches. It 

 has succeeded quite well at the Utah station, and good reports of it 

 have been received from central and southern Montana and from nmny 

 parts of Colorado. It was seen on several ranches near Evanston, 

 Wyo.. the past season and was making a fine growth. Mr. \V. C. Burke, 

 of Las Animas, Colo., in an answer to the questicm as to what grasses 

 and forage plants do best in his locality, includes this grass, with the 

 statement that "when irrigated it produces about 2 tons of hay per 

 acre." It is deserving of more general cultivation as an element in 

 mixtures for permanent meadows and pastures and for seeding down 

 sparsely wooded areas. 



ALFALFA. 



By far the most important forage plant cultivated in this region at the 

 present time is alfalfa. Scarcely a farm or ranch under irrigation can 

 be found in the entire region without its alfalfa field, and on many of 

 the larger ranches hundreds of acres are devoted almost exclusively to 

 this crop. It flourishes on the l)ettcr drained valley lands and irrigated 

 bench lands in all parts of the region where the altitude is not too 

 great, and alfalfa liay constitutes the principal winter feed for many 

 thousand head of horses, sheep, and cattle. Of recent years it is being 

 extensively used in fattening sheep and cattle for market. There is 

 great need of a good su])plem('ntary forage to be fed along with the 

 alfalfa. It is so rich in muscle-making food elements that, as ordinarily 



