PROGRESS OF THE RANGE BUSINESS 



63 



hard to say which is of the most value to the large sheep- 

 owner, the summer ranges in the mountains or the win- 

 ter ranges on these deserts. The small sheepman who 

 has his farm on which he can grow feed to winter his 

 sheep depends more upon the summer range for a suc- 

 cessful issue of his sheep venture. To the big owners, 

 the men who graze their sheep by the tens of thousands, 

 and cannot excepting in the most urgent cases be pre- 

 pared to feed hay, the winter ranges are most vitally im- 

 portant. 



These deserts are the typical sage-brush areas. Here 

 the sage and salt bushes are almost the sole feed. There 

 are many species of grasses and weeds but the great de- 

 pendence of the stockmen, especially sheep-owners, is 

 the sages and the varieties of the salt sage, of which 

 Atriplex nutallii or (A. volutaris) is the most common. 

 This sage (A. volutaris) is also called tumble weed in 

 some localities, but further south the tumble weed is 

 Amaranthus blitoides. The Russian thistle (Salsola 

 tragus) is also commonly called tumble weed. Shad 

 scale (Atriplex canescens) is also found in great quan- 

 tities here, together with bud or button sage (Artemisia 

 spinescens). This latter is an especially valuable browse 

 because of its early growth. 



Sheep, especially young sheep, are apt to get sore 

 mouths from eating this class of forage, as the spiny 

 twigs, and in button sage the cactus-like needles, cut the 

 interior lining of the lips and mouth. They soon get over 

 this, however, if given a change of feed for a few days, 

 and gradually the mouth hardens until no bad effects 

 follow its eating. 



The sheepmen range their herds on these deserts all 

 winter, watering on snow banks when no other method 



