CHAPTER III 



RESEEDING WESTERN GRAZING LANDS TO 

 CULTIVATED FORAGE PLANTS 



The native western grazing grounds for the most part are 

 located in what is popularly known as the arid region. The 

 vegetation varies in density from a complete cover, as on the 

 much-restricted meadows, where lo to 12 acres will support a 

 cow for a year, to a growth so sparse that 100 acres will barely 

 maintain an animal the year through. Over the greater part 

 of the range, 25 to 35 acres, waste lands included, will support 

 a cow for a year. This low forage production is the result 

 chiefly of limited rainfall, but overgrazing and other forms 

 of range abuse are also responsible for the low grazing capacity. 



It is natural to hope that some good forage plant may be dis- 

 covered that will completely occupy the soil of this vast arid 

 region, drive out the pestiferous weeds, and give character to 

 the landscape. Such a plant has not as yet been found. Native 

 pasture lands can not be made to perform miracles. Many 

 stockmen and range investigators have learned through costly 

 experience and wide experimentation that cultivated forage 

 plants will not yield heavily — if, indeed, they will grow at all — 

 where the virgin native vegetation at best is sparse and com- 

 posed only of drought-enduring species. To produce a good 

 crop of clover, timothy, orchardgrass, or some other valuable 

 grass where the annual rainfall is so low that " dry farming " 

 of the most intensive and scientific kind fails to yield economical 

 returns, would require a weird brand of magic. 



Because of the generally low yielding capacity of the less- 

 elevated stretches of range and the ruggedness of the more 

 humid, elevated tracts, it is impracticable to plow the soil or 

 otherwise put much money into the preparation of the seed- 

 bed. Clearly any practicable plan of reseeding range lands must 



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