38 RANGE INVESTIGATIONR IN ARIZONA. 



ent inconvenience. This means that nearly 150,000 acres could be 

 grazed from one watering place. This amount of travel, however, is 

 excessive, and without doubt could not be profitably continued., Mr. 

 Mayer's herders report that their flocks do not travel over 5 miles per 

 day, but they think that there would be no evil effect from driving 

 them farther than this. Considering the necessity of watering more 

 often, it is probable that no greater area can be grazed with goats 

 than with sheep. 



Horses have no difficulty in traveling 20 miles to water, it is claimed. 

 Some portions of Arizona are overrun with cayuses of little value, a 

 laro-e number of which are unbranded and badly inbred. They are 

 claimed, of course, and, being upon public range, can not be gotten 

 rid of. Horses and burros have a decided advantage over cattle, not 

 only from the fact that they are better travelers, but because they are 

 able to dig for water in the sands of the arroyos. It is a novel sight 

 to the uninitiated to see a horse or burro up to its knees in the loose 

 sand pawing for water. During the summer rains the water level is 

 hio-h in the arroyo sand for some time after a shower, although there 

 may be no running or standing water for miles around. Horses and 

 burros very commonly supply themselves with water during the sum- 

 mer season in this way, and are, therefore, able to graze upon lands 

 that cattle or even sheep can not reach. Plate IH, figure 1, shows 

 horses digging for water in a small arroyo at the western base of 

 Pyramid Hill, within the present inclosed area on the Santa Rita For- 

 est Keserve. 



By far the greater number of sheep and goats are summered in the 

 great highland region of the San Francisco, Mogollon, and White 

 mountains, and wintered upon the deserts of the Salt, Colorado, and 

 Little Colorado river valleys. This statement should be modified by 

 the assertion that the Navajo and Moqui sheep are not included. The 

 rainfall is so variable, however, that there is no regularity in the 

 migrations. The exact locality where a man winters depends entirely 

 upon the distribution of the rainfall of the late autumn of that par- 

 ticular season. 



THE SEASONS. 



There are in southern Arizona two distinct seasons of feed produc- 

 tion; ill other words, two seasons of plant growth. They are totally 

 diflerent in the class of plants which they produce; indeed, one can 

 almost recognize three seasons of growth if he takes into consideration 

 those plants which grow well during the hot weather of May and June 

 upon the moisture which they have stored up during the winter. 



The first season draws to a close with the advent of the April 

 drought, which continues to the first of July. The second begins 

 with the summer rains of July and terminates early in October. The 



