58 RAN(JK INVESTIGATIONS IN ARIZONA. 



Mention has been made in previous pages of the use of Bouteloiia 

 rotlirocl'i'i as a hay plant, l)ut with it are alwaj's cut a large variety 

 of other species, a specific mention of which is not necessary. Some- 

 times saccaton {Sporolxil n^ iiir!(/Jit!!) is cut, along wnth such other 

 species as grow upon the lowlands. Upon the east side of the Santa 

 Rita Mountains blue grama {Bouteloiia oUgostachya) and bluejoint 

 {Andropogon saccharoide.s) together with Chlorls elegans^ often make 

 a small crop of ha}'. In many situations Johnson grass makes an 

 important addition to the native hay plants upon overflowed areas. 



The Mexican population makes use of a number of weed}- plants, the 

 most important of which is Amaranthus jxdijie?^. In the vicinity of 

 Tumacacori and Sopori during the past season there were large quan- 

 tities of this plant put up for winter use. The crop was invariably 

 obtained upon land from which a crop of barley had been removed in 

 the late spring or early summer. The barley crop in this region is 

 often the only one grown. The lands therefore lie idle from May 

 to October, when they are plowed again for the fall seeding. During 

 the summer they furnish some weedy pasturage, and from favorable 

 situations a large volunteer crop of this weed is obtained. Plate VIII, 

 tigure 1, shows Mexicans stacking a large volunteer crop of this plant 

 about the 1st of October. The yield was not far from 3 tons per 

 acre in the field which was being harvested. These men report it to 

 be good hay for horses, l)ut rather poor for cattle. 



WEEDS. 



In a region of such small production it is not to be expected that 

 weeds have a very detrimental influence upon native pasture lands. 

 The weeds, as a general rule, furnish feed when other things fail. 

 The use that is made of alfilerilla is a striking example of this. 



In a few instances, however, absolutely worthless weeds flourish 

 upon the most productive of the range lands. The alluvial bottoms 

 which were once covered with either annual or perennial grasses have 

 sufl'ered great injury during recent years on account of the establish- 

 ment of the cockle bur {Xanthium canadeiue). Hundreds of acres of 

 the very best and most productive lands in the higher valle5's of south- 

 ern Arizona have been absoluteh' taken possession of by this plant 

 during recent years. It is hoped that Johnson grass will be the 

 means of reclaiming these areas. It is the only plant known which 

 can compete successfully with this weed. 



Along the main line of the Santa Fe Railway, for a distance of 20 or 

 more miles on each side of the road, the Russian thistle is well 

 established. In the valley of the Little Colorado it appears to be 

 quite at home upon the dry. mesa land, and will doubtless become 

 more conspicuous as time goes on. AVhile it will cause trouble upon 

 the cultivated areas, it is not thought that it will ever injure the range 



