GENERAL INTRODUCTION. 



The members of the botanical department of the Experiment 

 Station spent the summer of 1901 from June ist to August ist on 

 the sheep ranges of the Sierra Nevada. They traveled on foot 

 from near Pyramid Lake to Sierra Valley, thence by way of the 

 Little Truckee to Webber Lake, and from there to the American 

 River, studying and collecting the plants and grasses on which 

 the sheep feed. 



There are many things that make this work important. The 

 part of the Sierra they visited is the principal summer range of 

 many of the most prominent sheep owners in Western Nevada; 

 and so in these mountains many sheep feed every summer. Now, 

 while this region is still an excellent grazing country, there are 

 nevertheless many parts of it where overstocking and dry seasons 

 have greatly injured the forage in both quantity and quality. If 

 in future years the number of sheep is increased this injury will 

 be aggravated, and will become much more widespread, perhaps 

 disastrous. 



The time has therefore come when an exact knowledge of the 

 whole matter is highly important. The facts of the case are of 

 course in the main already known to many sheep owners and to 

 their more intelligent herders. They know quite accurately, that 

 is, the plants that furnish the largest amount of nutritious food 

 for sheep, and also which of these will best endure years of con- 

 tinuous grazing. This scattered useful knowledge, however, 

 should be brought together and published in such a form that it 

 may be easily referred to and may become more widely known. 



With x these facts there should be published further and more 

 exact information in answer to the following questions: 



