EEPOET OP THE FORESTER. 



177 



Table 8. — Tree seed collected and purchased. 



FREE DISTKIBUTION OF PLANTING STOCK. 



Under the act of March 4, 1911, 127,550 trees were distributed to 

 704 settlers in the Kinkaid district in Nebraska. These trees were 

 chiefly jack pine, which has been found most suitable for planting 

 the sandy uplands, and white elm, which does well on the bottom 

 lands. Small amounts of other species were also furnished. 



RANGE MANAGEMENT. 



The demand for permits to graze live stock on the National Forest 

 ranges continues to increase. The settlement of the public domain 

 brings new applicants for grazing privileges with each succeeding 

 season, while the continued high prices received for meat, wool, and 

 hides are an incentive for the older permittees to endeavor to in- 

 crease their stock. The winter season of 1916-1917 w^as the most 

 disastrous the range stockmen of the West have ever known. There 

 have been previous years when local losses were heavier, but never 

 when the losses were so general in every range State. Early snows 

 in the fall of 1916 forced stockmen to begin winter feeding from one 

 to two months earlier than usual. The hay crop for 1916 was in 

 many regions of the West somewhat below normal. The spring of 

 1917 was from four to six wrecks late in every part of the West, the 

 combination of long feeding season and short hay crop resulting in a 

 shortage of hay before the ranges were in condition to receive stock 

 in the sprhig. Hay, on this account, reached abnormal prices — as 

 high as $40 a ton being frequently paid. In many instances hay 

 could not be secured at any price, and in some regions the snow on 

 the ranges was so deep that it was impossible to transport the hay to 

 the starving animals. In consequence, the lamb crop for the entire 

 West was considerably below the average, probably from 15 to 20 per 

 cent below, while the losses of the adult stock were serious. Cattle 

 losses were also unusually heavy, and the calf crop considerably be- 

 low normal. 



33382°— AGR 1917- 



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