43 



vation under irrigation, and several hundred thousand acres are under 

 ditch, Avhile it is estimated that 1,000,000 acres are capable of being 

 thus improved. 



The principal grasses in the Pecos Valley are salt grass [Dis- 

 tichlis spicaia), in the alkali spots along the lowest portion of the 

 valley, saccaton {Sporoholus icrighfii), wild rye {Elymns canadensis), 

 western wheat grass [Afjropiiron spicatum), and alkali grass {Sporobo- 

 lus airoides). Back from the 

 immediate river valley on the 

 richer bottom lamls blue grama 

 {Bouteloua oligostachya) grows 

 sometimes almost pure, or inter- 

 miugled with woolly foot {B. 

 eriopoda) (fig. 9), and black 

 grama {Hilaria mutica). In the 

 northern j)ortiou of the valley 

 the grasses are practically iden- 

 tical with those of the northern 

 half of the Staked Plains. The 

 gramas are the most abundant, 

 supplying fully 80 per cent of 

 the entire forage of the ranges, 

 the balance being furnished by 

 perhaps twenty- five or thirty 

 species. The carrying capacity 

 of the ranges in the Pecos Val- 

 ley varies more widely than in 

 any region in Texas, because 

 of the unrestricted grazing of 

 cattle and sheep on the public 

 lands. In dry years there are 

 often areas where 60 acres would 

 hardly support 1 cow, while in 

 good seasons the same lands 

 if undergrazed in the droughty 

 seasons will support from 40 

 to 60 head to the square mile. -w,r- q w n <• *,d .? 



y ii*ivy tiiii^j. ^ [^j g — \\ oolly-foot (Bouteloua eriopoda). 



RELATION OP LAND LAWS TO RANGE IMPROVEMENT. 



The range lands in Xew Mexico, with the exception of frontages 

 along streams, sections, or quarter sections containing springs and 

 land which may be artificially watered by shallow artesian wells, are 

 still owned by the Federal Government, 69 per cent of the territory 

 being Government land, and 58 per cent is classed as grazing lands, 

 amounting to 45,000,000 acres. Texas having been independent pre- 



