430 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



separate areas until the forage on the 

 other has had a chance to start, both 

 winter and summer range will be greatly 

 improved and their carrying capacity 

 increased. 



Another interesting development is 

 At l A miles of drift fence on the Fishlake 

 forest in the same state. It was built 

 to keep cattle on the north side and 

 horses on the south where larkspur 

 grows in abundance. Larkspur is very 

 poisonous to cattle, but is not eaten at 

 all by horses. Before this fence was 

 built, 60 cattle had died in one month, 

 June; after it was built and the cattle 

 were excluded from the larkspur areas 

 there was a further loss of only 5, though 

 July and August are considered by 

 cattlemen in Utah the worst months for 

 larkspur poisoning. Forest officers 

 therefore have estimated that this 

 fence, which cost $740, saved $2,500 

 in the first year it was built, and should 

 save $4,000, or five times its cost, each 

 season. It is said, too, that it increases 

 the carrying capacity of the grazing 

 district about 15 per cent. 



Two other fences in the same state, 

 costing $2,100, will, on a conservative 



estimate by the cattlemen, save ap- 

 proximately $6,000 a year. 



In certain areas where the fences will 

 greatly minimize the problems of the 

 forest officers in handling cattle within 

 the national forests, the cost is borne by 

 the Government. In other areas where 

 the benefits to stockmen have been 

 shown they are built in cooperation 

 with the cattle owners, who pay a large 

 part of the expense or furnish the labor. 

 Throughout the national forest states 

 there are cattle and sheep owners' as- 

 sociations which represent individuals 

 who graze their flocks and herds upon 

 the national forests. All differences 

 which arise between the forest officers 

 and the individual owners are submitted 

 to the advisory boards of these associa- 

 tions, and they are therefore clearing 

 houses for the settlement of any diffi- 

 culties which may need adjustment. 

 According to the officials of the service, 

 these associations have practically elim- 

 inated controversies, and the officers 

 who administer them are in perfect 

 accord with the policies of the Govern- 

 ment. One of the evidences of this is 

 shown in the drift fences which help 

 both sides. 



GRAZING FOR ELEVEN MILLION 



LIVESTOCK INCREASES ON NATIONAL, FORESTS 



FIGURES showing the number of 

 livestock for which the Secre- 

 tary of Agriculture has author- 

 ized grazing permits for the 

 ranges on the 160 National Forests 

 during the year 1914 have just been 

 made public. Nearly eleven million 

 animals can be grazed, including nearly 

 two million head of cattle and horses, 

 nearly nine million head of sheep and 

 goats, and about sixty-five thousand 

 hogs. This means an increase for the 

 current year of about thirty-eight thou- 

 sand more cattle and horses, and three 

 hundred and forty-seven thousand more 

 sheep and goats, although the grose 

 area of the National Forests at the 

 beginning of 1914 is almost a million 



acres less than at the beginning of 1913. 



During 1913, according to the reports 

 just compiled, more than twenty-seven 

 thousand stockmen paid the Govern- 

 ment for grazing permits on the Na- 

 tional Forests. 



For several years past the carrying 

 capacity of the National Forest ranges 

 has been slowly rising, which, forest 

 officers say, indicates an improvement 

 in general grazing conditions and a bet- 

 ter utilization of the forage resources. 

 They claim that this is due mainly to 

 the enforcement of better methods of 

 distributing and handling stock. 



On the lands recently acquired by the 

 Federal Government within the Appa- 

 lachian region of the east, regulated 



