THE LARGE INCLOSURE. 21 



C. caespitosus. Upon the hitrher cloviitioiis there arc scattered plants 

 of Yucca haccnta^ xif/arc tij)pj<in((t((, uiul .1. schottJl, wliile Yucca radl- 

 ostt is scattered along the northeastern fence line in rather limited 

 numbers. JVolina mici'ocarjxi and Dasyllr/on irheehrl are conspicu- 

 ous, especially on the northern slopes of the hills, while thickets of 

 ocotilla {Fouquirva ,y}/endefi.s) are frequent on the southern slopes. 

 Scattered at rather frequent intervals all over the brushy area are to 

 be found clumps of Brio-ham's tea {Kplndrn irifuvca). Besides these 

 there are a urcat manv other usually smaller shrubs scattered over 

 various portions of the inclosure, some of them of considerable eco- 

 nomic importance. They will be discussed under another head. 



The area contains typical foothills, and do(^s not ditier materially 

 from similar regions in the foothills of the Iluachuca, Santii Catalina, 

 and Babuquivari mountains in this same general region. As a rule, 

 there are large, gently sloping, grass}' areas comparatively free from 

 brush between the brush}' mesas and the sparsely timbered mountains, 

 not oidy in southern Arizona, l)ut in New Mexico as well. 



FORAGE PLANTS. 



This inclosed area contains three typical and natural subdivisions of 

 the grazing lands of this portion of the Southwest, and the cattleman 

 would look upon it as an average grazing proposition, not the l)est, 

 nor yet by far the poorest. The first subdivision may be described as 

 an arid desert mesa; the second, adjoining the first, may very properly 

 be designated as open, gently sloping foothills, comparatively free 

 from rocks; and the third, as rough, rocky blufls and arroyo l)anks. 



The arid mesa portion of the inclosure occupies approximately lialf 

 of the field, and we may accept a line drawn from corner L to corner 

 I, figure 1, as the division between this region and the open foothills. 

 This division line would in all probability be more accurate if it were 

 described as extending from L to a point about Ij miles north of I on 

 the west fence line. It will be seen that the upper edge of the heavy 

 brush (Atwyy is used in a purely relative sense) corresponds roughly 

 with the lower edge of the grassy area. North of this line there is 

 but little grass, the main forage plants being various desert herbs and 

 shrubs to be described later. In a favorable season there are areas 

 of considerable magnitude of six weeks' grass {Bouteloua arlstldoides) 

 along the arroyos and on the higher levels of the west side, as far 

 north as section 9, township 18, range 14; and there is usually more 

 or less Triodia 2)ulcheila and six weeks' grass upon the rocky ridges 

 in the northwest part of the pasture. These two grasses, however, 

 are of little forage value here. They never, so far as experience since 

 1890 teaches, occur here except scatteringly. At times there are tufts 

 of such perennial grasses as Leptocldoa duhki, Chtetochloa compouta^ 



