A SUMMER'S WORK ON EXPERIMENT STATION 51 



was detrimental not only to the stock but to the range as well. 

 The inevitable result of this practice was that the range be- 

 came overgrazed. It was to remedy this state of affairs that 

 this section of the country was made into a forest reserve. 



In order to determine how best to restore the depleted range, 

 experimental studies were begun. The studies are carried on 

 in what is known as the spruce-fir type at an elevation of from 

 8,000 to 10,000 feet. The top of the ranges are well rounded 

 and are covered with vegetation. The areas where experimental 

 studies are carried on are places that have been overgrazed 

 in the past. Vegetative reproduction is less vigorous here and 

 as a result much erosion has taken place. 



Restoration of the range to its original productive capacity with 

 the least economic loss from non-use is desired. This, as shown 

 in the "Natural Revegetation of Range Lands Based Upon 

 Growth Requirements and Life History of the Vegetation," by 

 A. W. Sampson, is best secured by the deferred system of graz- 

 ing, "which aims at a rotation in the time of using each por- 

 tion of the range, each year allowing an area to reach seed 

 maturity before it is cropped, but grazing after that period, in 

 order to avoid loss of forage through non-use and to assist re- 

 production by trampling in the seed." In carrying out this 

 policy grazing is restricted from the areas upon which experi- 

 ments are carried on until August 20, when the seeds of most 

 of the forage plants have ripened. Revegetational studies to 

 best determine the method of retaining the valuable forage plants, 

 which are the first to disappear when overgrazing is practiced, 

 are made. These studies include a life history study of the most 

 important forage plants. 



The collection of a plant herbarium is carried on in connection 

 with this work. The plants are collected as they reach ma- 

 turity. Three specimens of each species are collected. One speci- 

 men is kept for the Experiment Station, one for the supervisor's 

 herbarium and one specimen is sent to the Washington office. 

 In collecting specimens the following points are observed: 

 (i) date of collection; (2) botanical name; (3) common name; 

 (4) exact locality where collected; (5) altitude; (6) slope; (7) 

 soil character; (8) associated species; (9) classes of stock graz- 

 ing the plant as forage; (10) value as a forage plant; (12) 

 abundance; (13) distribution. 



At an elevation approximately the same as where the experi- 

 ments are carried on, climatological records are kept. These 

 include a daily record of the temperature secured from a thermo- 

 graph and the variations in temperature by the maximum and 

 minimum thermometers. Readings are made of the soil tempera- 

 ture at 6, 12 and 18 inches, of the humidity, of the evaporation 

 and of the wind velocity. The amount of precipitation and ex- 



