186 THE FUTURE OF ARID LANDS 
It appears that more experimentation is needed with regard to 
methods of reseeding in the semi-arid lands under review. The 
method is likely to be applicable only in limited areas. The 
Foreign Operations Administration expert in Iran, Laurence R. 
Short, states that reseeding is possible in only about 10% of the 
rangeland in that country. In the Desert Range Project in the 
Western Desert of Egypt, it has been suggested that wholesale 
clearance of desert scrub prior to ploughing and reseeding is not 
advisable. The existing vegetation may be cleared in strips and 
ploughing, or preferably light disking, and reseeding carried out, 
producing the alternation of scrub strip-grass strip rather like 
the cereal-fallow strip system adopted in parts of Western Can- 
ada and sited across the prevailing wind. Such a system does 
not entail so drastic a change in the microclimate at plant level, 
the grass stands are protected to some extent from the searing 
effects of desert winds and a reservoir of seed plants of adapted 
vegetation remains should the reseeding fail. 
In French Morocco, where artificial reseeding has failed in 
many places, it has been found appropriate to grow seed mother 
plants in a nursery and to transplant these in the area to be 
revegetated. If protected from grazing, these plants will produce 
seed for the establishment of young plants around their bases 
and in the protection they themselves provide what might be 
called the “hen and chicken” method of reseeding. 
Seeds of the adapted species of the semi-arid lands in these 
regions are not available in any quantity. Indigenous species 
which might well be collected and multiplied include: Dacty/is 
hispanica, Stipa lagascae, Cynodon dactylon, Aristida ciliata, Hy- 
parrhenia hirta, Avena barbata, and Lolium rigidum in the West- 
ern Desert of Egypt, species of Agropyron and low-rainfall 
ecotypes of Dactylis hispanica and Phalaris tuberosa on the 
Arabian desert fringe, and Cenchrus ciliaris in the Rajasthan 
semi-arid lands. A number of the Foreign Operations Adminis- 
tration Missions are beginning to collect and employ these 
adapted species and ecotypes. Israel has a large scheme under 
way and has established a special seed multiplication nursery at 
Migdal Askalon. FAO in 1954 in association with the Common- 
wealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization of Aus- 
