WATER FOR STOCK. 87 



they were 8 miles from the ruach. lie rurther states that his cattlo 

 often go 10 or 15 miles away from water. It hardly seems probahlc, 

 however, that cattle can accustom themselves to living over twenty- 

 four hours without sutlering in the extreme heat of sunnner, although 

 they thrive for a much longer period, as shown by the following 

 signed statement, which was recently furnished at my request: 



Helvetia, Ariz., July IS, 190S. 

 In the month of July, 1900, in building a fence for a pasture, we inclosed a 3-year- 

 old steer. The fence was completed on tlie oth of July, and tlie steer to our knowl- 

 edge was in our pasture thirteen days without water. We will state further that 

 there was no grass in the pasture, but there was plenty of mesquite and cat-claw 

 browse. 



J. Martin. 



Mr. Truax relates a still more remarkable instance than this one, in 

 which he states that his men accidentally inclosed a cow and calf in a 

 dry pasture in the month of July, where they remained for u period 

 of fifteen davs before being discovered. The calf at the end of the 

 period was in apparently good condition, but the cow could not have 

 lived much longer. These extreme cases are quoted to show that it is 

 not at all impossible for stock to live regularly even under this sub- 

 tropical heat with but two or three waterings per week, although the 

 practice can not be upheld where there is any possibility of supplying 

 water at .shorter intervals and more convenient distances. 



In man}^ countries where sheep are extensively rai.sed they are 

 almost never watered, but in dry regions water must be supplied, 

 although at rather less frequent intervals than is the case with cattle. 

 Upon the high plateau of the Ash Fork and Seligman regions herders 

 informed the writer during the past season that they do not water 

 more often than once ever}^ eighty hours in the hottest weather. T'hey 

 remain three nights awa}' from water with both sheep and pack burros. 

 In this way they are able to graze an area around the water supply 

 with a radius of about C miles, or about 72,000 acres. Even with this 

 remarkalile utility of water there are large areas where grazing can 

 not be done except during the rain}^ season or in winter when there 

 is snow upon the higher elevations. During a large part of the winter, 

 when grazing is done upon allilerilla and Indian wheat, sheep live with- 

 out water for months. Little or no water is needed even in summer 

 when feed is green. 



Goats need water more often than sheep, and it is usually claimed 

 that they can not get along without water once every twenty-four 

 hours. They are much better travelers than sheep, however, and on 

 this account fully as large an area can be grazed from one watering 

 place as with sheep. Mr. J. F. Burns reports that his 500 Angoras 

 traveled 11: miles each day for about two weeks one year with no appar- 



