CONDITION AND PLANTS OF THE KANGE. 19 



lands, and the shrubbery, when there is any, is mainly the rayless 

 golden-rod (Bigelovia graveolens), which is also sometimes called sage. 

 This was the main shrub on nearly all of the wheat lands traversed, 

 especially in the Ritzville and Walla Walla regions. West of Ritz- 

 ville, however, at the present time wheat ranches are being opened up 

 very rapidly on the sandy sagebrush lands 8 or 10 miles east of Moses 

 Lake. We did not, however, see the establishment of wheat on these 

 sagebrush areas, and it remains to be proved whether the experiments 

 in wheat growing conducted there will be permanently successful. 



From the standpoint of quantity, bunch wheat grass (Agropyron 

 spicatum) is without doubt the most important grass in the Big Bend 

 region, although the bluegrasses and sheep fescue heretofore men- 

 tioned are of much prominence on tin 1 higher elevations as well as on 

 the ""scab" lands. Owing to the rapid extension of the wheat area, 

 the localities where this grass grows pure are rapidly diminishing in 

 number. It may be said that the form of the grass which is so 

 important here is that designated by botanists as Agropyron spicatum 

 merme, which is so named from the fact that the chaff which incloses 

 the seed is without awns. As one proceeds southward even a short 

 distance into the Blue Mountains, the awned form appears and the 

 awnless one is almost, if not quite, absent. 



Attention was called in last year's report" to the two forms of sheep 

 fescue in the mountains of Nevada, and it was stated there that they 

 often grow in nearly distinct areas, the glaucous form at higher eleva- 

 tions than the smooth variety. The two forms are found here also; 

 but, although well marked, they have not been observed in separate 

 areas as in the southern desert mountains. As far as forage value is 

 concerned, there is no apparent difference in the two forms. 



Although several newly established wheat areas were passed through, 

 there were but two well-established ones on our route. The first 

 extended from about 20 miles west of Ritzville to the ''scab" along 

 Cow Creek; the second, from about 8 miles south of Lyons Ferry to 

 Pendleton, Oregon. The developing areas are located at Trinidad, on 

 the high table-land south of Conden's Ferry, and at Ephrata. All the 

 remainder of the territory traveled over in the State is devoted to 

 cattle raising, and all is pasture land except such regions as North 

 Yakima, Wenas, and Kittitas valleys, and small areas in the vicinity of 

 Conconully and Loomis and along creeks emptying into the Columbia 

 River, which are devoted mainly to the culture of hay crops under 

 irrigation. 



The poorest "scab" land vegetation is well illustrated by a collec- 

 tion made south of Ephrata, near the Ferguson ranch. The shrubs 

 were by far the most abundant form of vegetation. They consisted 



"Bulletin No. 15, Bureau of Plant Industry, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture, L902, p. 52. 



