24 FORAGE CONDITIONS AND PROBLEMS. 



vegetation salt grass (Distichlis spicata) and bordering it grease wood 

 (Sarcobatus vermiculatus). These are in turn surrounded by the usual 

 shrubs of the desert. In places where the drainage waters empty into 

 the basins the vegetation is of course very much modi lied. It is here 

 that the ranches occur, and it is upon the impounding of the spring- 

 waters which reach these sinks that the reclamation of these deserts 

 depends. These areas, however, are now no part of the range, but 

 they serve for the culture of winter feed for stock and are in the 

 main patented holdings. The condition in the higher mountains whs 

 discussed in Bulletin 15of the Bureau of Plant Industry, U. S. Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, to which the leader is referred. 



Surrounding many of these desert sinks a peculiar condition exists 

 as regards the distribution of vegetation. On the edges of the major- 

 ity of them there are sandy drifts of varying magnitude, in which all 

 of the desert shrubs may be found growing promiscuously. These 

 accumulations of earth are derived from the desert basins during the 

 dry, windy weather, and they are consequently very different from 

 the ordinary sand dune, inasmuch as they, as well as the desert basins 

 themselves, are very alkaline, the salts being blown out during the 

 dry season. The vegetation of one of these dunes in Long Valley, 

 Nevada, will serve as an illustration. There appeared in these mounds 

 grease wood (Sareobatus vermiculatus), black sage {Artemisia tri- 

 dcnt<it<(), bud sage (Artemisia, spinescens), hop sage (Grayia spinosa), 

 and saltbush (Atriplex confertifolia). On the "sleek desert" sides of 

 these mounds occurred a scattering growth of salt sfrass, sometimes 

 extending over the mounds, while on the edge of the more salty areas 

 were also scattering growths of suaeda (Dondia depressa erecta) and 

 iodine weed (Spirostachys occidentalis). None of these shrubs except 

 the first mentioned is to be considered a salt-loving plant, but all were 

 able to thrive here, doubtless because they became established before 

 the drifts. For the same reason (hey are not to be considered sand 

 binders, although they did serve that useful purpose here. 



The feed on the desert mesas of Catlow Valley is furnished almost 

 entirely by needle grass (Sti/pa thurberiana), orchard barley (Sitanion 

 longifolium and S. villosum), prairie June grass (Koeleria cristata), 

 wheat grass (Agrojpyron sp." (J. & II. No. 306), Indian millet ( Ory- 

 zopsis cuspidata) , and giant rye grass (Kit/nuts conden-satus). To these 

 should be added Nuttall's saltbush (Atriplex ?iuttaUii), which grows 

 here, as is common with this species, almost pure in irregular areas, 

 usually of a few acres in extent, in the general sagebrush mesa. The 

 grasses, it must be understood, are in small scattering bunches, and it 

 would doubtless take more than 50 acres to support a steer for one 

 year on the general mesa. The conditions described in Steins and Pine 



« This species, although quite abundant, was nut secured in proper condition for 

 determination. 



