FORAGE PLANTS 23 



areas are said to be upon the range. During the last half 

 of the last century vast areas in the West were utilized 

 as range for stock, chiefly cattle and sheep. The usual 

 practice in raising stock under range conditions is the 

 ranch system. The ranch is the headquarters for the owner 

 or manager of the farm and the stock. Here are the 

 necessary buildings and other equipment. This central 

 area is located near a stream or other water-supply, and 

 more or less of the land in the vicinity is owned by the 

 ranchman. The land lying beyond the limits of the ranch 

 is open range, that is, unoccupied land, owned usually 

 by the federal government, by the state, or by the bond- 

 aided railroads. Such land at that time was of little 

 value unless there was access to water. The result of 

 these conditions was that the valley land along the 

 streams was purchased for the use of the ranches, this 

 ownership giving the use and virtual control of an indefi- 

 nite area on the upland beyond. The cattle or sheep were 

 herded on this range, the distance traveled being limited 

 by the necessity of returning from time to time for 

 water. Sheep are able to obtain water by eating snow, 

 hence they can be herded during the winter upon desert 

 regions lacking the ordinary water-supply, provided there 

 is sufficient snowfall. It is therefore customary in the 

 mountainous regions of the West to herd sheep in the 

 mountains in the summer and take them out on the 

 desert in the winter. 



Within recent years the demand for farm land has 

 increased and the amount of open range has correspond- 

 ingly decreased. Ranchmen in many cases have been 

 obliged to buy and fence pasture land for their stock. 

 Another modification of the original ranch system results 

 from the policy adopted by the federal government in 



