20 



way of cultivating the best native grasses, of increasing the number 

 of valuable sorts by introduction of foreign species, of determining 

 whether a stand of certain forage plants may be secured by sowing 

 the seeds on the unbroken sod or on land which had simi)ly been har- 

 rowed, and of determining the practicability of inoculating range 

 land with turf-forming grasses. 



For the purpose of carrying on such experiments two sections of 

 land have been leased by this Department, one atChanning, in Hartley 

 County, Tex., which will represent, in a large measure, the conditions 

 that prevail in the high plains of the Panhandle, and one at Abilene, 

 Tex., to serve for the central and western prairies up to the border of 

 the Staked Plains. On each of these sections three SO-acre and two 

 40-acre pastures have been fenced and are being treated as follows: 



Pasture jVo. 1. — No treatment except to keep stock oft" until June 1, 

 pasturing the balance of the season. 



Pasture No. 2. — Cut with a disk harrow and keep stock off" until June 

 1, pasturing the balance of the season. 



Pasture No. 5. — ISTo treatment exce^it pasturing until June 1, and 

 keeping stock ofi' the balance of the season. 



Nos. 1, 2, and 5 each contain 80 acres. Pastures numbered 3 and 4, 

 each consisting of 40 acres, are being grazed alternately, the stock being 

 changed from one pasture to the other every two weeks. In addition 

 to these fenced and stocked pastures, SO acres of land were dragged with 

 an ordinary straight- toothed iron harrow, one 80-acre tract was disked, 

 and a tbird was left as a check without any treatment whatever except 

 that, in common with the other two, no stock was allowed to run on it 

 during the lirst season. The remaining 80 acres are devoted in part 

 to the cultivation of grasses and forage plants, using both such as can 

 be obtained in the markets, and the native sorts, while a portion has 

 been set apart for minor experiments. Among the latter may be men- 

 tioned the breaking of east and west furrows at intervals in order to 

 intercept and catch the seed of the needle grasses and other bearded 

 seeds which are blown over the ground by the prevailing north and 

 south winds; the sowing of seeds of various wild and cultivated forage 

 plants directly upon the sod without other treatment, and experiments 

 in transplanting the best of the Avild turf forming grasses to bare spots 

 by setting bits of turf in the ground with a spud or sim])ly i)ressing 

 them with the boot heel into the soft earth after rain. On some por- 

 tions of this 80-acre field, experimoits will be made in sowing allilaree, 

 bur clover, Bokhara clover, and valuable wild forage plants which grow 

 in other similar regions directly on the sod without further treatment 

 than to keep stock off during at least the lirst year. The section at 

 Abilene was inspected before the commencement of the work by a com- 

 mittee of stockmen who made an estimate of the carrying capacity of 

 the land at that time. It will be judged at intervals throughout the 

 experiments by the same committee in order to determine as exactly as 



