FORAGE PLANTS 25 



tive power, and partly by the fact that grazing animals 

 select the best plants, thus exterminating the valuable 

 species, whose place is taken by the unpalatable or worth- 

 less weeds. Range that has been grazed beyond its ability 

 to recuperate is said to be overgrazed, and when the num- 

 ber of stock on a given area is too great, the range is said 

 to be overstocked. The amount of stock which the range 

 will carry depends upon the kind and amount of vegeta- 

 tion, the fertility of the soil, the rainfall, and various 

 other conditions. The carrying capacity can be told 

 only by experience. A range must be exceptionally good 

 to average for a season one cow to every 5 acres, and such 

 ranges would be found only in the less arid portion of the 

 Great Plains where the grass is abundant. 



Overgrazing may be the result of necessity. The 

 ranchman having in his possession a certain amount of 

 stock may be confronted with an unfavorable season or a 

 diminished range. As the free range decreases owing to 

 the use of the land for general farming, or is bought up 

 and fenced in by the ranchmen for self-protection, the 

 tendency to overstock becomes greater. Too often under 

 these conditions, the stockman is confronted with the 

 necessity of providing feed for the stock he has, without 

 regard to the ultimate welfare of the range. 



22. Rejuvenating wom-out ranges. — As vast regions 

 have been made temporarily unfit for grazing by the 

 attempt to carry on the range for successive seasons more 

 stock than it would bear, there has been an increasing 

 pressure for methods that would quickly rejuvenate these 

 areas. It has been thought that the seeds of grasses or 

 other plants that are as well or better adapted to the 

 conditions than was the preceding vegetation might be 

 sown on the range to advantage. Many experiments have 



