44 FORAGE CONDITIONS AND PROBLEMS. 



the form of Bromus secalinus which has escaped from cultivation and 

 grows as a weed seems to be much more pronounced than that of the 

 cultivated form, which, as previously stated, corresponds more closely 

 to Brom/us racemosus. 



Ustilago striseformis. — This common disease did more injury to 

 timothy in Jess Valley, California, than the writer has ever observed 

 elsewhere. It appeared to be confined here to well-drained areas, 

 which were abundantly supplied by seepage from ditches, rather than 

 to the more poorly drained or the drier portions of the meadows. 



SUMMARY AND SUGGESTIONS. 

 NEEDS OF THE KEGION. 



The sheep industry is more in need of summer pasture than anything 

 else. This is accounted for by the settling up of mountain meadows, 

 the development of alfalfa regions, and the withdrawal of land from 

 the public domain for timber reserves. 



The mountain communities of the Blue and the Warner mountains 

 need to have determined what hay and pasture crops can be grown in 

 these highland regions to best advantage. 



In the desert basins, where Avater for irrigation can be obtained for 

 only a very short time, there is need of an early maturing perennial 

 grass. 



The alfalfa growers call for tw T o new varieties of alfalfa — one which 

 will survive with less water than the common form, and one which 

 will resist the effect of soluble salts in the soil. The development of 

 these two strains can be secured only through careful experimentation. 



ABUSES. 



The whole subject of abuses can be summed up under the head of 

 overstocking, but there appear to lie two practices which need special 

 attention. At present stock are allowed on high mountain pastures 

 too late in the spring. They should be taken from these pastures as 

 soon as frost begins to disappear, so that the sod will not be injured. 

 Even the carefully handled tame pastures of the East will not stand 

 grazing at this period. 



The second abuse of the range to which the writer wishes to call 

 attention is the "cayuse nuisance." With the decline in the price of 

 horses about 1894 these animals were allowed to run wild, with prac- 

 tically no attention, many herds not even being rounded up and 

 branded. Under these conditions, of course, the horses multiplied 

 and deteriorated rapidly on account of inbreeding, resulting in the 

 overstocking' of the ranges with animals which were all but worthless. 

 It was this condition which led the legislature of Nevada, in IS'.)", to 



