20 



reasons for this we were told that it was due mainly to his 

 methods of herding and knowledge of the food value of the 

 plants, along with many years of experience over the same terri- 

 tory, and conscientious attention to duty. He very seldom put a 

 dog on the sheep, allowing them to spread out as far as reasonable 

 safety from loss would allow, of ten walking considerable distances 

 around the band of ewes and lambs, rather than frighten them 

 and crowd them together with a dog, when the forage could not 

 be so evenly grazed by all, or the sheep so contented as to make 

 the best use of the food eaten. Their knowledge of English is 

 usually very imperfect, so that even when they were willing to 

 give out information they were unable to do so in a satisfactory 

 manner. Some of them were very suspicious in regard to our 

 motives, believing that we were government spies, or that we 

 were trying to find out just what kinds of forage it was that made 

 the mutton from Nevada sheep superior to others. By finding 

 this out we could then introduce those particular forage plants 

 into other States, which would then be able to produce equally as 

 good mutton. 



PRESENT CONDITIONS. 



A great difference exists as to the degree to which different 

 parts of the summer range have been injured by sheep-grazing. 

 Some sheep-owners are alive to the fact that judicious and scien- 

 tific methods must be used in grazing on the ranges, while others 

 seem to think that it is impossible for the grasses and forage 

 plants to become exterminated, no matter what the treatment. 

 Because of this condition of things, there can be found some 

 ranges on which the feed is almost as plentiful as it was ten years 

 ago, while others can be found that have been cropped closely 

 several times every year, and now produce a very small quantity 

 of forage to the acre. Good forage plants, like the tomato plant 

 (PI. XII), are so severely grazed during the hot summer that the 

 crown is injured and death results. Brush is so constantly 

 nibbled that the branches become short and distorted; and, unable 

 to produce leaves, they finally succumb. When the plants, with 



