14 



of the surface layers to the sun and air. Soils which are covered with 

 verdure are always fertile and those which lack a protecting plant cov- 

 ering are sterile and deficient in "life." Overgrazing also subjects the 

 soil to the destructive action of torrential rains. When rain falls upon 

 any field thickly covered with grass or other vegetation, the surface 

 drainage is much retarded because the total surface for the retention 

 of water is largely increased; but when the grass is eaten olf, or 

 destroyed in any other way, not only is less of the rainfall absorbed 

 but the full force of the rushing waters is exerted upon the exposed 

 surface, and vast quantities of the finest and richest jiarts of the soil 

 covering are washed into tbe streams. This denudation of land by the 

 destruction of its grasses, while perhaps not so familiar as that following 

 from the destruction of forests, nevertheless is proceeding quite rapidly 

 in a great number of places in the West. The washing away of the 

 soil iiroceeds less rapidly on the plains where the slopes are less abrupt 

 than in the mountains, but the result is just as sure, although the obvi- 

 ous destruction is less marked. Wherever grasses are allowed to fnlly 

 mature and are not entirely eaten down, there is a decided difference 

 in the amount and rapidity of the drainage. Less water runs off" into 

 the streams in the form of floods and more is absorbed into tbe soil. 

 These are the various results of the evil course of overstocking the 

 grazing lands of the West, which if persisted in will surely supply 

 another example of the transformation by human agencies of a fertile 

 land into a desert waste. 



DESTRUCTION OF GRASSES BY ANIMAL PESTS. 



In addition to the destruction of the grasses by stock, the number 

 of grass-eating pests, especially prairie dogs and jack rabbits, has 

 rapidly increased. These were formerly kept in check to a large 

 extent by their natural enemies, but when the bulk of the gray wolves 

 and coyotes were killed off" by the stockmen, on account of their depre- 

 dations among sheep and young cattle, there was nothing to prevent 

 the grass destroyers from rapidly increasing and spreading out over new 

 territory. Another potent cause of the spread of these pests to new 

 land is the destruction of the grass and the consequent diminution of 

 their natural food supply. There are now hundreds of square miles 

 of prairie-dog towns in the central and western portion of the range 

 country, while in the South the jack rabbits are becoming very numerous. 

 Five jack rabbits will consunje enongh grass i^er annum to keep one 

 sheep, and twenty prairie dogs will eat and spoil even more. Like the 

 rabbits in Australia, both of these pests breed rui)idly, so that it takes 

 only a short time after the decdmation of either one by epidemics or by 

 l)oisoning to fully recruit their numbers. Poisoning can be made 

 effective if there is concert of action among the stockmen in any given 

 locality. The dogs and rabbits must be killed in all the pastuies within 

 a district. To destroy them in one i»a,sture or township and not in the 



