for existence, going on among all the plants which occupy the 

 land. Remove the good plants, and you give the bitter and 

 thorny kinds an excellent chance to grow and to spread. Thus a 

 depleted range not only produces less good forage, but it is also 

 likely to become overrun with useless weeds and brush, an injury 

 which can scarcely be repaired. 



There are two great classes of plants the annuals and the 

 perennials. The annuals come up every year from seed. The 

 perennials come up every }^ear from seed and from the previous 

 year's roots. The nutritious annuals of good flavor on an over- 

 stocked range get little chance to -produce seed. The perennials 

 cannot go to seed either; but this does not matter so much, for 

 the;r roots live through the winter, and, so long as the crown is 

 uninjured and the roots are not torn up, the perennials reappear 

 every summer. The annuals are likely to disappear first on an 

 overstocked sheep range; then the perennials grow dwarfed and 

 stunted, and. slowly die out. All the while bitter and thorny 

 weeds and brush which the sheep have avoided have had a good 

 chance to produce seed, and to spread all over the country. 

 When just about enough sheep, however, are grazing on the range 

 the annuals produce seed enough to keep on growing, and the 

 perennials send more strength into their roots, which grow 

 stronger and deeper, and so can produce a good crop of leaves and 

 stems the next year. 



Besides being injured by the destruction of nutritious plants, 

 and the consequent increase of the poorer sorts, overstocked 

 ranges are injured by destructive changes in the character of the 

 soil itself. Some soils are so loosened by the trampling hoofs of 

 the stock that on the hillsides the finest part is washed away by 

 the rains. Other soils are hammered down so hard that the rain 

 and the melted snow run off from the surface in the spring floods, 

 and are of little use to the thirsty plants. 



There is no use in talking about these various ways in which 

 overstocking injures the range unless we are ready to consider 

 some means of bringing back the grass on the depleted ranges. 



Can the forage on the public lands be improved? 



Is there any doubt that the public lands do not support as 

 many sheep and cattle now as they did twenty years ago? 



