TEMPORARY PASTURES. 349 



which are possessed of high nutrition, but the major 

 portion are of a somewhat dwarfed habit of growth 

 and they grow more sparsely as moisture decreases. 

 Acre for acre, as compared with sown pastures, these 

 pastures are relatively low in producing power; wheth- 

 er in this respect they can be improved by other grasses 

 is problematical. This question is further discussed 

 in Chapter XVIII. 



On many of the uplands, however, at the base of 

 the mountains, usually spoken of as the "foothills," 

 pasture and hay from such plants as alfalfa, timothy 

 and other grasses can be grown, but the range of such 

 production has not yet been ascertained. The chief 

 supplies of fodder, required to supplement grazing 

 in the winter in these areas, will come from the irri- 

 gated valleys found with more or less frequency in 

 much of the range country. However, on the uplands 

 of Washington, Idaho and Oregon, taking Moscow as 

 a centre, pasture or meadow may be obtained from 

 orchard grass, Russian brome, tall oat grass or meadow 

 fescue. 



The Irrigated Valleys. The reference here is not 

 only to the valleys now irrigated in the region that is 

 being considered but to those also that are susceptible 

 of irrigation, and that will unquestionably be irrigated 

 in the future that is not far distant. These include 

 all the irrigable valleys in the entire Rocky mountain 

 districts of the United States and Canada. 



These valleys are capable of producing for pasture 

 or for hay all or nearly all the valuable grasses and 

 clovers that can be grown on the continent ; nor is the 



