PASTURES ON THE RANGE. 447 



staclcs will materially influence all attempts at renewal, 

 whether these are made through fencing in the ranges, 

 through adding seed of suitable grasses, or whether re- 

 newal is attempted by substituting other grasses for 

 those now on the range. 



Renewal through Fencing. In the judgment of the 

 author, renewal through fencing and alternating the 

 grazing is by far the most practical method of the 

 three. The ranges are protected, not only by a fence 

 running around each ranch, but when the ranches are 

 subdivided so that one year some of the pastures may 

 be allowed to re-seed the ground, the stock in the mean- 

 time, grazing in other enclosures, the seed that falls 

 from the former should prove effective in sufficiently 

 thickening the grasses. The next year, the stock can 

 be grazed on these, while in the other pastures seeds 

 are maturing. How frequently it would be necessary 

 to have them thus re-seed the land, has not been dem- 

 onstrated, but there is no doubt that the necessity for 

 such protection, and re-seeding would decrease with 

 the increase in supplies of moisture and vice versa. In 

 some places, it would probably be necessary to thus 

 rest the grasses every second year and yet again every 

 third year would suffice. 



Such fencing, however, is relatively costly. Materi- 

 als for fencing are not plentiful and transportation of 

 materials long distances is expensive. These things, 

 taken in connection with the relatively low sustaining 

 power of the range, will be found a considerable item 

 in the expenses of the ranchman and, so far, a re- 

 ducing factor in his profits. The further difficulty will 



