BUEEAU OF PLANT INDUSTRY. 71 



use of the Department in experiments with grasses and forage plants. 

 This tract of laud is near Tucson, although some 400 feet higher, and 

 is about 2,600 feet above the sea level. The land was fenced, and 

 when selected in Sej)tember, 1900, the ground was bare, except for 

 cacti and a few small shrubs of little or no value for forage. From 

 January until March the ground was fairly well covered with short- 

 lived annuals, the most conspicuous being California poppy and tufted 

 plantain, which latter is of some value for grazing. It is evident 

 that the present unproductive condition of the ranges in this part of 

 Arizona is due in the greatest measure to overstocking and injudi- 

 cious management. The perennial grasses have been completelj^ 

 destroyed on a large portion of the range and can not be restored 

 except by fencing and reseeding. Some 52 acres of the fenced por- 

 tion of the reservation are now under cultivation, and this area has 

 been divided into 60 plots, upon which about 40 species of forage 

 plants have been sown. 



One correspondent living in Oracle, Ariz., in replying to the inquir- 

 ies relative to forage conditions of the Territory, states: 



The present unproductive conditions are due entirely to overstocking. The laws 

 of nature have not been changed. Under similar conditions vegetation would 

 flourish on our range to-day as it did fifteen years ago. We are still receiving our 

 average amount of rainfall and sunshine necessary to plant growth. Droughts 

 are not more frequent now than in the past, but mother earth has been stripped 

 of all grass covering. The very roots have been trampled by the hungry herds 

 constantly wandering to and fro in search of food. The bare surface of the 

 ground affords no resistance to the rain that falls upon it, and the precious water 

 rushes away in destructive volumes, bearing with it all the lighter and richer 

 particles of the soil. Vegetation does not thrive as it once did, not because of 

 drought, but because the seed is gone, the roots are gone, the soil is gone. This is 

 all the direct result of overstocking and can not be prevented on our open range, 

 where the land is not subject to private control. I respectfully urge upon you 

 the importance of impressing the Government oflScials with the fact that no 

 general improvement of range country can be expected until the land is placed 

 under individual control by lease or otherwise. The greater part of our range 

 country is at present desert and will steadily become less and less productive 

 while the present range management, or rather lack of it, prevails. 



In March and April of the present season Mr. Shear visited the 

 experiment stations of Kansas, Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona, 

 with the view of inspecting the grass and forage-plant work being 

 carried on in those States, and especially to inaugurate the experi- 

 ments to be carried on in cooperation with the Kansas station on the 

 farm of Mr. H. B. Waldron, of Anthony, Kans. The work herei)lanned 

 is the trial of various methods of improving the range and pasture 

 lands and the introduction of such grasses and forage plants as may 

 give promise of success in this general region. Seeds of grasses and 

 forage plants collected or purchased by the office have been supplied 

 in large quantities to a number of experiment stations with which 

 no articles of cooperation have been signed, being sent either directly 

 to the stations or to individuals upon the request and recommenda- 

 tion of the station officials. 



ABILENE. TEX. 



The experiments in range improvements which this Department 

 has been carrying on during the past three years at Abilene, Tex., 

 under the immediate supervision of Mr. H .L. Bentley, have been con- 

 cluded, and Mr. Bentley's final report of the operations for the entire 

 period and results obtained is now in the hands of the Agrostologist. 

 This report is a most interesting one, and the work at Abilene has 



