468 SOILS. 



Comments on the Above Table. Considering in this table, 

 first, the plants suitable for the stronger class of alkali lands, 

 it may be said generally that the search for widely acceptable 

 kinds has not been very successful. It is true that cattle will 

 nibble green salt grass (Distichlis spicata), but will soon 

 leave it for any dry feed that may be within reach. The enor- 

 mous amount of salts which it will tolerate in the soil on 

 which it grows, and the doubtless correspondingly large 

 amount of those salts which it will absorb, judging from its 

 taste, sufficiently explain the reluctance of cattle to feed on it 

 to any considerable extent. 



The same is true of all the fleshy plants that grow on the 

 stronger alkali lands, and are knoxvn under the general desig- 

 nation of " alkali weeds." When stock unaccustomed to it 

 are forced by hunger to feed on such vegetation to any con- 

 siderable extent, disordered digestion is apt to result ; which 

 in such ranges, however, is often counteracted by feeding on 

 aromatic or astringent antidotes, such as the gray sagebrush 

 and the more or less resinous herbage of plants of the sun- 

 flower family. 



In the Great Basin region, lying between the Sierra Nevada 

 and the front range of the Rocky Mountains, there are, aside 

 from the grasses, numerous herbaceous and shrubby plants 

 that afford valuable pasturage for stock, 1 and some of these 

 grow on moderately strong alkali land; the same is true in 

 California. It is quite possible that some of these will be found 

 to lend themselves to ready propagation for culture purposes 

 as well as they do for restocking the ranges. But thus far 

 none have found wider acceptance, probably because their stiff 

 branches and upright habit render them inconvenient to handle. 

 It will require more extended experience and experiment be- 

 fore any of these will be definitely adopted for propagation by 

 farmers and stockmen. 



1 See Bulletin No. 16 of the Wyoming Experiment Station; also Bulletin Nos. 

 2 and 12 of the Division of Agrostology, and Farmers' Bulletin No. 108, U. S, 

 Department of Agriculture. 



