CHAPTER XIV. 

 FOOD FROM PASTURES. 



In the United States and Canada tame pastures as a 

 source of food for live stock have not, as a rule, been taken 

 at their true worth, owing probably to the large area of new 

 or rugged lands that have furnished native pasture and to the 

 very large area covered by the ranges of the West. The rich- 

 ness of the virgin soils, during the early years of their culti- 

 vation, encouraged the growing of crops on them, other than 

 grass, to the comparative neglect of the latter. Hence it 

 is, that the continent is possessed of but limited areas of per- 

 manent mixed grasses, and that but little attention has been 

 given relatively to the improvement of pastures of any kind. 

 Notwithstanding, food from pastures will always be one of 

 the cheapest sources from "which it can be obtained. 



The sources of pasture may be said to be fourfold. These 

 are: (i) The pastures of the range country; (2) pastures 

 on rugged land in areas where tillage is common; (3) per- 

 manent pastures natural or made; (4) temporary pastures. 

 Those, from the source last named, are by far the most im- 

 portant, not only because of the large areas devoted to 

 their growth but because of the renovating influence 

 which nearly all of them exert upon the soil, and because 

 of the fertility which many of them bring to it. 



The pastures of the western ranges will always be of 

 large extent, though more and more circumscribed with the 

 passing of the years. That the production of wide areas 

 has already been greatly reduced by over depasturing is 

 a matter of history. That even range pastures are suscep- 

 tible of renovation is also being demonstrated. To discuss 

 the methods by which they may be renovated would be 

 foreign to this book which treats of foods rather than 

 of growing them. 



