THE GRASS LANDS 153 



owners of the land can control the amount of gracing on that 

 land, and by controlling the gracing on the land, the grass can 

 be protected. But if the ownership of land is too mixed up, this 

 control is hard to put into effect. 



In practice, this is how the problem grows. A rancher has 

 150 head of cattle. He owns 640 acres of land; part of this he 

 homesteaded, and the rest he bought during the war at high 

 prices and on borrowed money. He is still paying the interest 

 on this debt. Since his homesteaded land is near water, he 

 irrigates a small portion to grow alfalfa hay to feed his stock 

 during the winter months. He also has a garden to provide food 

 for his family. Adjoining his land is a large area of public 

 domain which is heavily graced by all the surrounding ranchers. 

 Our rancher finds enough grass here for his herd during March 

 and April. When this feed is gone, he shifts his herd to Forest 

 Service land and keeps them there until August. In August he 

 rents land from the railroad or the state which lasts until De' 

 cember, when he brings them back to his own land where there 

 is grass for grazing and hay which has been cut and cured. 



Now if the Forest Service or the Department of the Interior 

 or the railroads or the state should decide that their land is 

 overgrazed, and limit the number of stock the rancher could 

 put on their land, the rancher would either have to find land 

 elsewhere or cut his herd. To find grazing land elsewhere is 

 difficult, because the National Forests are fully grazed and the 

 public domain is overgrazed. To buy private land means in' 

 creased debt and taxes. So, in general, the solution of the range 

 problem means cutting down herds, especially those of large 

 owners. But this does not necessarily mean less profits. In 

 fact, good grass and better handling of herds eliminates losses 

 by starvation, produces fatter and higher grade stock, and 

 increases the percentage of the calf crop and the lamb crop. 

 Here, as in other kinds of land use, the only kind of use that 

 pays in the long run is good use, because bad use destroys the 

 land, the plants, and the industries depending on them. 



