AGRICUI.TUUAI, APPROPRIATION MII.U "^'24. 221 



Mr. BrcHANAN. Th<> items <all for «'X|M'rim<*nls afid inv<»stij;ationp 

 and I prcstiinc that is all that is (lour, is it not >. 



Coloiu'l (iKKF.LKV. TIhto aro scvoral diirrrrut incthods of <-"•- 

 <lii(tiii«; <'X|)<'rim«'rits. One is tho ostahlisliiiicnt of sample pi 



mall ran«j<» areas perhaps as hie as this room, perhaps as large n.s 



u (|uarter section. These are olaced under fence, and the actual 



conditions of that rauire ami of its use are carefully checked ami 



iu(lie«l from year to year in order to determine tlie proj;ri*ss of the 



nin<;e upward or downward and why the ehan«;es are taking place. 



Mr. lil<nA\A\. Voii would not ikmmI to make much of an investi- 

 ^'atitm as to the weeds, wouhl you. hecause the cattle would eat all 

 (he trood «rrass and would not eat tho bad weeds, so that vou wouhl 

 not have to have any study made of them. 



Colonel (iKKF.LKY. The question then' is to <letermine ut what 

 point proper use of the ran«je ^ives way t(» excessive use. 



Mr. Bi'<HANAN'. That is determined l)v experience alone, is it not? 



Colonel CiKKKi.KV. Of course, any class of stock will eat the most 

 palatable fora<;e first. 'Hie (piestion we are after is a real chanjje 

 m the character of the ranj^e as the result of overi^razint; something 

 wjiich has actually happene<l on a good many of those western areas. 



Mr. HrrnANAN. Do you think the need for this appropriation 

 will ever cea.se ? 



Colonel GuKELEY. I douht it. 



Mr. Buchanan. Then it is like the brook, it will go on forever ? 



Colonel Cihkel?:y. The proposition is so big. Mr. Buclianan. that 

 it will probably go on for a long time. It affects 12o.0()().()00 acres of 

 range lands in the national forests; it really affects over SO.OOO.OOO 

 acres of public range lands outside the national forests, and its results 

 !ire being used by a great many stock men on their own lands. That 

 l)eing so, I think we have got to anticipate continuing for a great many 

 years what we are doing here. Wliile we have our own land imme- 

 diately in view, we are doing for the range business of the West the 

 -ame sort of thing that Doctor Taylor's work is doing for agriculture 

 and that l)itct<tr Mi^hler's wotk is doing for the intensive live-stock 

 industry. 



Mr. Andkk.son. We will next take up the item on page l.5(>, for the 

 purchase of tree seed, cones, and nui"sery stock, etc. 



FOR PrRrilASE OF TREE SEED, ETC., FOR SEEDING AND PLANTING. 



Colonel (Ireelky. The next item covers tree planting. There is 

 no change in the amount and no change is proposed in the general 

 character of the work. We have about l.oOO.OOO acres of lantl in 

 the natif)nnl forests which have been denuded by old fires and which, 

 as far as j>ur j)resent experience goes, will have to be planted in order 

 to be restored to timber growtli. With shis appropriation we were 

 able in the past year to plant approximately 9,000 acres and to main- 

 tain the eight forest nurseries. These nurseries have an annual pro- 

 ducing capacity of between six and eight million forest seedlings. 



Mr. Andek.son. What do you do with that many seedlings^ 



Colonel CIreeley. We u.se them all; we use about S.000.000 seed- 

 lings a year normally. 



Sfr. Buchanan. Kight millions^ 



