242 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



[November, 



nothing all the summer. They knew the capacity of the range has already 



absolutely nothing of the good time checked the worst evils which result 



their neighbors were having only one from over grazing. But the new in- 



and a half miles away. Now, why did vestigations promise much greater 



not they find those flowers? Echo only things. 



answers "Why?" 



RESEEDING THE RANGE WITH 

 CULTIVATED GRASSES. 



Studies and Experiments to Increase 



the Forage on the Summer Range 



in National Forests. 



THE LIVE-STOCK industry 

 turns to account one of the 

 greatest natural resources of 

 the West — the forage crop. 



From the plains to the Pacific an as- 

 tonishingly large proportion of the area 

 is grazing land. It is estimated that 

 this region contains over 400,000,000 

 acres which are useful at present only 

 for pasturing stock. A map printed in 

 colors to bring out the main areas of 

 agricultural, grazing, and desert lands 

 was published not long ago. It showed 

 the grazing-land color spread like a 

 sheet over nearly all this vast domain, 

 which comprises something like one- 

 third of the entire United States, with 

 relatively minor patches of the other 

 colors. In arid regions the range is 

 comparatively poor, but almost every- 

 where enough forage plants can grow 

 to make grazing profitable. 



The Forest Service, in co-operation 

 with the Bureau of Plant Industry, has 



These investigations are to be car- 

 ried out along three distinct lines — 

 studies of what can be done in the way 

 of introducing cultivated grasses, 

 studies of range improvement through 

 better knowledge of how wild grasses 

 propagate, and studies of how to handle 

 both cattle and sheep so as to reduce 

 the waste due to herding and trampling. 

 The present account deals with tht 

 first, the introduction of cultivated 

 grass. 



The man in charge of these studies is 

 Mr. Frederick V. Coville, of the Bu- 

 reau of Plant Industry, who is an ex- 

 pert in matters connected with the use 

 of the range. Mr. Coville made a care- 

 /ul study of grazing problems in the 

 Cascade Mountains of Oregon for the 

 Interior Department ten years ago, 

 and contributed to the discussion of 

 grazing questions which formed part of 

 the Public Lands Commission report 

 made in 1905. It was on his recom- 

 mendation that the laboratory for 

 desert botanical research was establish- 

 ed by the Carnegie Institution of 

 Washington at Tucson, Ariz. He is, 

 therefore, very well prepared for this 

 work, which to be successful, must be 

 run on thoroughly practical lines. 



The experiments will begin in Wal- 

 lowa County, in northeastern Oregon, 

 in the Imnaha National Forest. Here,. 



begun a series of experiments to find 



out how the carrying power of grazing ^^ different altitudes, a number of moist 



lands within National Forests can be "^tural meadows have been picked out 



increased. In a nutshell, the problems 



are, first, how to grow, and second, 



how to utilize, the largest amount ol 



forage. The conclusions reached are 



likely to have an important bearing on 



imoroved use of the open range gener- 



allv. The economic possibilities of 



these experiments are enormous. 



In the past the stockman on the pub- 

 li'- lands has simply taken what nature 

 offered him. But grazing tends to put 

 nature at a disadvantage. Plants which 

 propagate bv seed, for example, hav( 

 no chance when the seed stalks are be- 



Those having the greatest altitudes are 

 10,000 feet or more above the sea, 

 where in early July the snow still 

 rovers the ground, although rapidly 

 melting under the summer sun. The 

 l'>^"est meadows are about 5,000 feet 

 above sea level. 



The purpose of these wet-meadow 

 evneriments is improvement of the 

 summer range. Stock do not winter in 

 the mountains, but are driven gradual- 

 ly higher and higher as the advancing 

 season calls forth the vegetation on 

 which they feed. The winter ranges 



ing eaten off all the time. In manv on the plains, supplemented largely by 



grazing regions the carrying power of the hav. alfalfa, and other feed crops 



the range has been very greatly re- which the ranches produce, depend for 



duced through the present methods of their utilization upon this summer 



use. Within National Forests the re- nasturage, to which the stock can be 



striction of the number of stock to i!riven when the dry season sets in. If 



1 



