PLANT INTRODUCTION ON MOUNTAIN LANDS 43 



to obtain detailed information concerning the natural factors 

 which limit the successful apphcation of reseeding to cultivated 

 plants, the adaptabihty of various species of plants to the vari- 

 ous sets of conditions, the methods which will procure the best 

 results, and the question of cost and returns. In other words, 

 it was necessary to find out where reseeding can be brought about, 

 what are the most effective means, and whether these means will 



pay- 

 In 1908 Cotton^ reported the results of a series of reseeding 

 experiments in mountain meadows of the Pacific coast region. 

 These experiments showed that the grazing capacity of the better- 

 watered lands may be increased considerably by seeding these 

 lands to certain cultivated grasses. The conclusions were 

 that timothy and redtop are the most promising grasses for 

 seeding such areas. 



The artificial reseeding of mountain lands was widely extend- 

 ed by Sampson,^ who from 1907 to 1922 directed more than 

 600 reseeding experiments on the National Forest range, using 

 various cultivated grasses and other herbaceous forage plants. 

 These experiments have thrown considerable light on the species 

 best suited to the different conditions, on the cost of reseeding, 

 on the methods of scattering and planting the seed, on how to 

 crop the lands with minimum injury to the young stand, and on 

 the forage increment that may be expected from reseeding. 



In these experiments the following 14 grasses and 8 species 

 other than grasses were tested : ^ 



Grasses 



1. Broom^rass (Andropogon spp.). 



2. Canada bluegrass (Poa compressa).* 



3. Slender wheatgrass {Agropyron tenerum). 



4. Blue gramagrass (Bouteloua gracilis). 



' Cotton, J. S., "The Improvement of Mountain Meadows." U. S. Dept. of 

 Agr., Bur. of Plant Ind., Bui. 127, 1908. 



- Sampson, Arthur W., "The Reseeding of Depleted Grazing Lands to Culti- 

 vated Forage Plants." U. S. Dept. of Agr. Bui. 4, 1913. 



' The asterisks indicate the 10 species most frequently used in the tests because 

 of the promise which they showed early in the experiment. 



