98 IMPROVEMENT AND MANAGEMENT OF FARM PASTURES 



Let it be assumed that the depleted pasture consists of 150 

 acres. If watering facilities will permit, it is proposed that 

 the pasture be divided by fencing into three 50-acre tracts. 

 Each enclosure will be grazed during the season, but not simul- 

 taneously. If enclosure No. 3 is the most seriously depleted, 

 and No. i is in the best condition, the latter would be grazed 

 first in the spring, No. 2 second, and No. 3 last, but not until 

 the seed of most of the vegetation has reached maturity. Most 

 plants mature their seed early enough in the season so that ample 

 time remains to graze the herbage thereafter. The following 

 season the grazing of the enclosures should be in the same order 

 as the first year, as this arrangement peiTnits the seedlings on 

 area No. 3 to become well established before cropping. The plan 

 of deferred and rotation grazing to be pursued annually follows: 



After the whole pasture is restocked, the rotation grazing 

 should be continued in order to keep the vegetation physio- 

 logically strong at all times. 



The grazing system here proposed will usually increase the 

 carrying capacity of bunchgrass pastures without decreasing 

 the number of stock grazed before the partition fences were 

 built. On many western ranges an increase of 50 to more than 

 200 per cent in the carrying capacity has been obtained within 

 three seasons of such deferred grazing. 



Fertilizers for Pasture and Grassland. — Once a grass area is 

 well established, it is seldom given much care or treatment. 

 Grasslands, however, often respond remarkably well to fer- 

 tiHzers, the growth being rapid and the yield large. Pastures 

 can not be expected to maintain their yield permanently unless 



