FORAGE PLANTS 23 
areas are said to be upon the range. During the last half 
of the last century vast areas in the West were utilized 
as range for stock, chiefly cattle and sheep. The usual 
practice in raising stock under range conditions is the 
ranch system. The ranch is the headquarters for the owner 
or manager of the farm and the stock. Here are the 
necessary buildings and other equipment. This central 
area is located near a stream or other water-supply, and 
more or less of the land in the vicinity is owned by the 
ranchman. The land lying beyond the limits of the ranch 
is open range, that is, unoccupied land, owned usually 
by the federal government, by the state, or by the bond- 
aided railroads. Such land at that time was of little 
value unless there was access to water. The result of 
these conditions was that the valley land along the 
streams was purchased for the use of the ranches, this 
ownership giving the use and virtual control of an indefi- 
nite area on the upland beyond. The cattle or sheep were 
herded on this range, the distance traveled being limited 
by the necessity of returning from time to time for 
water. Sheep are able to obtain water by eating snow, 
hence they can be herded during the winter upon desert 
regions lacking the ordinary water-supply, provided there 
is sufficient snowfall. It is therefore customary in the 
mountainous regions of the West to herd sheep in the 
mountains in the summer and take them out on the 
desert in the winter. 
Within recent years the demand for farm land has 
increased and the amount of open range has correspond- 
ingly decreased. Ranchmen in many cases have been 
obliged to buy and fence pasture land for their stock. 
Another modification of the original ranch system results 
from the policy adopted by the federal government in 
