1901. 



AMERICAN FORESTRY ASSOCIATION. 





situation, and having stated the case, I am 

 morally responsible for suggestion as to a 

 remedy. Positive answers at this time 

 are few, for the science of " rangery," if 

 I may be allowed to coin a word, is yet 

 in its infancy. During the two years, 

 however, that the Arizona station has 

 been making its first advances in the study 

 of southwestern conditions, the problems 

 have begun to take shape, systematic work 

 is under way, and results are beginning 

 to appear. 



controlled by those operating in it. are I 

 great to make applicable knowle 

 the beneficial effects upon the rai 

 This knowledge must be coupled with 

 legal ingenuity in order to be effective- 

 but more of this a little later. 



Another branch of study applicable to 

 the problem of range reservation is thai 

 the introduction of new species of arid re- 

 gion vegetation capable of taking hold and 

 furnishing additional forage in this coun- 

 try. When we reflect that perhaps half 



The objects of range study are, in the of the areas inhabited by civilized nations 



_i- 1 4- J i- *- * , , J 



first place, to demonstrate economic 

 methods for the improvement and recla- 

 mation of the great areas of devastated, 

 worn-out grazing lands of the semi-arid 

 regions, and, finally, to suggest such ad- 

 ministration of the country thus reclaimed, 

 or the yearly decreasing areas of yet un- 

 ruined ranges, that the interests of all 

 concerned the stockman, the irrigation 

 farmer, and the possible investor in the 

 storage propositions of the future may 

 be brought into harmony with each other, 

 as well as be individually bettered. 



are semi-arid in character, including those 

 regions in which formerly nourished the 

 most ancient peoples, the possibilities for 

 discovering drouth-resisting fruits and for- 

 age of value are certainly very attractive. 

 Certain of our native species, also, in 

 skillful hands, should be found capable of 

 great improvement. The cacti, for in- 

 stance most changeable in the hands of 

 the plant breeder are full of possibilities 

 as forage in this country. In the old 

 world, indeed, under the stress of severer 

 conditions especially in Sicily the cac- 



In the study of ways and means whereby tus has been developed into a most re- 

 reclamation of worn-out ranges may be ef- munerative forage. 



fected, the first expedient which suggests Still another department of range-im- 



itself is the withdrawal of cattle and sheep provement work consists in the stud} 



from them 



The Arizona station, aided by the De- 

 partment of the Interior, and with the 

 cooperation of the Division of Agrostol- 

 ogy of the Department of Agriculture, 

 located and fenced a typical tract of some 

 350 acres of worn-out country near Tuc- 

 son about one year ago. Even in this 

 short period of time, the difference be- 

 tween the vegetation within and without 

 our fences is very apparent, and we are 

 most confident of results capable of eco- 

 nomic application through the agency of 

 rest' alone. This, indeed, is an expedient 

 whose effectiveness is well known to the 

 stockmen of this country, and in certain 

 districts where it has been possible in 

 some degree to cooperate to this end, 

 stockmen have by mutual consent re- 

 frained from putting excessive numbers of 

 cattle upon their ranges. The uncertain- 

 ties attending such efforts, however, in a 



the methods and effects of water restraint 

 and storage in the open face of the range. 

 The current ideas of water storage are for 

 the most part formed on colossal lines. 

 "Save the forests and store the floods," is 

 the prevailing cry, and in the popular 

 mind storage means a dam, scores and 

 perhaps hundreds of feet in altitude, and 

 a reservoir of many square miles in extent, 

 impounding the waters of a great river 

 and costing many millions of dollars. 

 The magnitude of these plans is character- 

 istic of the age in which we live; but 1 

 desire at this time to state a principle of 

 water storage of which we hear but little. 

 but which has been found by other peo- 

 ples and in other ages to be adequate 

 for the maintenance of countries even 

 more arid than this, in condition to sup- 

 port large populations. 1 refer to the 

 construction of numerous small, cheap 

 reservoirs and embankments across the 



country which is not owned or legally smaller water courses and the broa 



