46 THE AMES FORESTER 



southern Arizona cattle have been known to travel over 13 

 miles to water and this every 36 hours in a climate that is ex- 

 ceedingly torrid. It is quite possible to have water so located 

 that all parts of a range will be equally fed, but this is very sel- 

 dom the case. Usually the intensity of grazing decreases with 

 increase of distance from water. Water is as essential as feed 

 itself. Very often stock will eat plants near water that they will 

 not touch at a greater distance from water. For instance, sheep 

 will eat hellebore near watering places and bedding grounds, 

 but they would not touch it at some distance or where other 

 forage is present. In connection with the discussion concern- 

 ing water it might be well to state that more and more the im- 

 portance of good, pure water is coming to be realized. Many 

 stockmen even warm the water in the winter. The older stock- 

 men seemed to think that as long as mud and muck was thin 

 enough to drink it was good enough for any kind of stock. 



A level plain would represent an ideal grazing ground to the 

 novice, but here again there is room for argument. A level 

 plain, provided that the yearly temperatures were agreeable and 

 that enough forage and area were available to rotate the dif- 

 ferent parts, would approach the ideal, but a plain with nearby 

 high mountains forms the best range. On the Wallowa National 

 Forest in Oregon differences in elevation ranged from 900 feet 

 to almost 10,000 feet with corresponding vegetation. This 

 really forms an ideal system, for stock can graze the low eleva- 

 tions in winter and gradually move up towards higher eleva- 

 tions as the snow melts and then return when the first snow 

 falls in the autumn. Of course, there are some drawbacks to 

 this system, but they cannot be enumerated here. However, 

 the point that should be emphasized in this paragraph is this 

 regardless of whether there is feed and water, the range cannot 

 be used if it is not accessible. Take a case of a mountain side 

 covered with the best of grasses and with abundant water, but 

 beset with steep cliffs and slides for a part of its area so that 

 stock could not safely use it. Until trails and driveways are 

 built, it would be largely a waste range. Very often there are 

 ranges that would make good forage for one class of animals 

 while another would starve. This would be true of goat ranges ; 

 sheep or horses or even cattle would starve to death on some 

 goat ranges. This then would be considered an inaccessible 

 forage, if there were no goats to feed it. To get the full forage 

 value and carrying capacity out of a piece of range, then, one 

 must consider its accessibility. 



In the warmer parts of this country there are yearlong ranges. 

 That is, grasses and weeds are accessible to stock in winter as 

 well as in summer. This, then, makes the harvesting of crops 

 to feed in the winter unnecessary as is the case when snow 



