PASTURES ON THE RANGE. 451 



vate ownership of the lands, will make it possible to 

 greatly increase the productiveness of the range coun- 

 try. 1. It will make the protection of the ranges easi- 

 er. 2. It will enable the ranchman to rear much of 

 the stock which he grazes. 3. It will enable him to 

 dispose of it at an earlier age. 4. It will enable him 

 to fatten a considerable proportion of it at home. 



Making Easier the Protection of the Ranges. Irri- 

 gation will make such protection possible, by increas- 

 ing the food supplies. In winter especially, animals 

 will be fed instead of grazed. This will spare the 

 grasses for summer grazing and it will also make it 

 easier to re-seed them by allowing seed to ripen in the 

 pastures. The immense quantities of alfalfa and other 

 food that can be grown on irrigated land will make this 

 easily practicable. 



Rearing Stock on the Ranges. Until recently, ranch- 

 men favored purchasing young animals to grow upon 

 the range. This, at least, was true of cattle. They 

 did so because of the difficulty in getting food sup- 

 plies to feed young stock, also their dams, on the range 

 in winter. The produce of the natural meadows grad- 

 ually grew less with retrogression in pasture produc- 

 tion, owing to cutting too frequently, in conjunction 

 with over grazing. Experience had demonstrated that, 

 if calves were to be reared on the range, feeding them 

 the first winter was an imperative necessity. This is 

 now easily practicable in all irrigated centres. 



Disposing of Stock at a Young Age. The winter 

 supplies thus grown, will enable the ranchman to dis- 

 pose of animals at an age younger than would be prac- 



