PROGRESS OF THE RANGE BUSINESS 61 



mistletoe grows so profusely that it is an easy matter for 

 one man to feed a great many cattle in one day on this 

 plant. Incidentally he is removing a very harmful para- 

 site from the trees. 



Mountain Forage. Going up into the mountains of 

 this region, we find many varieties of grasses and plants. 

 Here the gramas are still plentiful, while there is a fes- 

 tuca locally called pine or white bunch grass (Festuca 

 arizonica), wild oats (Avena fatua), timothy (Phleum 

 pratense), wild rye (Elymus canadensis), and the blue 

 stem (Andropogon). Besides these grasses there are 

 many varieties of weeds, lupines and other edible forage 

 plants, all of which are greedily eaten by sheep. In fact, 

 in the higher mountain ranges everywhere the sheep eat 

 far more of the class of plants commonly called weeds 

 than they do of the grasses. 



In addition to these grasses and weeds there are many 

 varieties of browse in the higher mountains upon which 

 stock feeds. In the foothills the tender shoots of the 

 scrub oak (Quercus undulata) (Q. gambelii) are eaten 

 by cattle in the early spring, but if fed on too long they 

 are very injurious, causing death in a short time from 

 the tannic acid contained in the leaves. 



The buck brush (Cowania mexicana), also called qui- 

 nine bush, service berry (Amelanchier), mountain 

 mahogany (Cercocarpus), and sages, all furnish a large 

 amount of excellent forage for sheep, cattle, goats and 

 horses. The Mexican sheep herders apply the word 

 "chamiza" to a browse range. 



The Northern Desert Ranges. There is another type 

 of desert range which lies at a higher altitude than the 

 two already described. The best example of this range 

 is found in the famous Red Desert of southwestern Wyo- 



