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severe winter storms, and it produces varying crops of nutritious 

 beans, often at the time of the greatest scarcity of other feed. On the 

 other hand, there are several disadvantages. These mesquite groves 

 are centers of infection for the range in that they form natural covers 

 for the protection of prickly pear, cat's claw, wild currant {Berber is) 

 and other spiny shrubs and noxious weeds. They tend to choke out, 

 by overshadowing, the best and most nutritious sun-loving grasses. 

 Furthermore, the truidvs and branches cover quite au area of land on 

 every section, so that it is a question whether the grasses which are 

 displaced during nine good years would not be worth as much or more 

 than the crop of beans during the tenth dry year. 



The best grasses are those that grow in the bright sunshine. There 

 is among grasses something of the same adaptation to locality, though 

 perhaps not so marked, as among plants of other natural families. 

 Some grasses — like the gramas, needle grasses, and blue stems — 

 mature only in the bright sunlight, clear and unobstructed; others 

 thrive only in half shade where protected by shrubbery and under- 

 growth, and others still would be burned out by the direct sunlight in 

 a single day. The feeding value of the grasses also varies directly 

 according to the amount of sunlight which they receive during the 

 growing season, and the grasses that live in the full sunlight are far 

 more nutritious, will fatten au animal sooner, and cause more rapid 

 gain in weight than those which grow either in the woods or in half 

 shade. Viewed from this standpoint, the rapid encroachment of the 

 mesquite bean on the open range must in time be detrimental to the 

 carrying capacity of the range. The consideration of these points 

 must enter into the problem of range deterioration and improvement. 

 The wild grasses of the high xirairies and tablelands depend upon the 

 Hood of sunlight for their high feeding value. If that is cut off or the 

 light rays are interrupted by the foliage of trees, the inherent fattening 

 qualities of the grasses are lessened. In this way both the individual 

 cattle owner and the State will sulier. The individual losses may seem 

 very small and unimportant, but in their aggregate they amount to no 

 inconsiderable sum, which must be subtracted from the total working 

 capital of the State. 



RENEWING THE CATTLE RANGES. 



That the natural pastures are in need of practical and scientific 

 treatment in order to increase their grazing capacity no one who is 

 acquainted with their past and present condition will deny. The most 

 obvious methods of bringing about the desired improvement are either 

 resting for several seasons to enable the grasses to retake the land 

 which has been denuded of its most valuable grasses, or cultivating the 

 surface of the pasture in order to accelerate the gradual natural proc- 

 esses. 



Besides these, there is need of finding out what can be done in the 



