MAN'S DISORDER OF NATURE'S DESIGN — ALBERTSON 369 



more intense, that portion of vegetation least adapted to adversity 

 dies, thus leaving an open cover. Further drought adds to the open- 

 ness of the cover until finally run-off of rain water is materially in- 

 creased, causing soil erosion and further depletion of soil moisture. 

 This cycle of events continues to make the situation more and more 

 critical, especially if deficient precipitation extends over a long period 

 of time and over a large area. When the effect of overutilization is 

 added to that of drought, the result, indeed, is very significant. 



A few figures on cover and yield in relation to degree of utilization 

 and amount of precipitation might be used to illustrate this princi- 

 ple. In 1932, which was the close of a 6-year period of above-normal 

 precipitation at Hays, Kans., the basal cover on a well-managed short- 

 grass pasture averaged nearly 90 percent of the total area (pi. 1, fig. 1) . 

 The decrease in precipitation following 1932 was extremely abrupt but 

 it took 2 years of drought to produce a significant decrease in the 

 cover, and by 1937 the blanket of vegetation had been reduced to 25 

 percent, and in 1940, when the drought closed, the cover was only 20 

 percent. With the return of sufiicient soil moisture the cover was 

 quickly restored because of the phenomenally rapid growth of buffalo 

 grass. 



On an adjacent heavily grazed range, the lowest cover of 2.6 percent 

 was reached in 1936. In various locations in southwest Kansas where 

 dusting and utilization were severe, the last vestige of vegetation was 

 often removed and even today some of the rangeland has the appear- 

 ance of weedy cultivated fields (pi. 1, fig. 2, and pi. 2) . Other ranges 

 in southwest Kansas that were more fortunate in regard to degree of 

 utilization and dusting have long since regained their predrought 

 cover (pi. 3). 



The question often asked is "How much do short-grass pastures 

 produce each year?" Obviously there is no one answer. Production 

 of grass usually varies directly with amount of soil moisture and in- 

 versely with production of weeds. It should be stated, however, that 

 a cover of weeds is preferable to no cover, for weeds protect the soil 

 from erosion in addition to furnishing considerable food for livestock. 

 In 1940 a No. 1 pasture at Hays yielded nearly 1,400 pounds per acre 

 of grass but only 400 pounds per acre of weeds ( Albertson and Weaver, 

 1944a). A poorly managed pasture produced only 133 pounds of 

 grass per acre but the weed crop was over 1 ton per acre. Farther 

 west than Hays there were fewer good pastures, and in 1940 even the 

 best of these yielded less than 200 pounds of grass but nearly 1,500 

 pounds of weeds. 



In 1941 the best pastures at Hays increased in yield considerably but 

 the better ones westward often increased tenfold or more. The poor 

 pastures, however, failed to make significant gains except in the 



