186 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. I., No. 7. 



into one continuous chain, some three thou- 

 sand miles of terminal moraine. If this com- 

 prehensive view had been possible to some 

 geologist twenty j-ears ago, how different might 

 be the literature of our drift ! 



IMPROVEMENT OF THE NATIVE PAS- 

 TURE-LANDS OF THE FAR WEST. 



It is a well-linown fact, that the greater part 

 of the United States west of the meridian of 

 Omaha is unfit for tillage. Here and there, 

 there are strips of land, which have a larger 

 rainfall, that may be brought under the plough ; 

 and along the rivers there are narrow belts of 

 land that may be made tillable hy irrigation. 

 A portion of this region is utterly barren ; but 

 a large part of it — probablj' not far from one 

 million square miles of the whole area, or an 

 area nearlj' one hundred times the surface of 

 Massachusetts — bears a scant}- crop of grasses. 

 The natural use of this region is alreadj^ recog- 

 nized : its sole worth is for the pasturage of 

 cattle and sheep. Already a great herding 

 industrj' has been created in this region, — one 

 that has an important bearing on the food-sup- 

 ply of this countrjf and of Europe. The only 

 limitation on the great extension of this industry 

 is found in the scantiness of the herbage and 

 the inadequacj' of the water-supply. The lat- 

 ter evil is probably remediable, in most cases at 

 least, by wells or by storage-reservoirs, which 

 shall retain the abundant waterfall of the rainy 

 season. I propose to offer some suggestions 

 concerning the possibility' of bettering the 

 herbage of forage-plants. 



All the grasses that now grow in that region 

 make but a scantj^ herbage. I am informed 

 by stock -raisers, that the best ' ranges ' require 

 from fifteen to twent}^ acres to a head of horned 

 cattle, and that from this unusual goodness 

 the ' ranges ' decline in value, until, in many 

 districts, a hundred acres is required to supply 

 a beast. The wide extent of the ranges neces- 

 sary to afford pasturage to herds of profitable 

 numbers makes the supplj- of water more diffi- 

 cult than it otherwise would be. 



It seems to me possible that the pasturage 

 of this region might be materiall}- improved 

 by the introduction of grasses and other forage- 

 plants indigenous to regions having something 

 like the same conditions of climate. My rea- 

 sons for hope in this matter are substantially 

 as follows : the experience of settlement in 

 this countrj' shows that the grasses are more 

 easily feralizcd than any other of our do- 

 mesticated plants ; several of them show a 



willingness to escape to the wilderness ; so 

 that there is hope that a careful selection in 

 various lands might afford some other species 

 that would run wild on our dry plains and 

 mountains. European experiments in natin-al- 

 izing grasses have been fairly successful, as in 

 the case of grasses to protect dunes from the 

 action of the wind. 



There are man}' regions in the world where 

 grasses have developed to suit just such con- 

 ditions as we have on our plains ; and in some 

 of those regions the period for the process of 

 development to go on has been far longer 

 than in North America. In North America it 

 has been but a single geological period since 

 the vegetation of the plains and Rock}' Moun- 

 tains was well watered ; while in Australia it 

 seems likely that the dryness of the climate 

 has been in existence from a rather remote 

 past. The same is probabl}' the case in the 

 northern parts of Asia and in South Africa. 

 Good effects from the introduction of foreign 

 forage-plants maj' be hoped for, if the onlj- 

 result were an increase in the variety of the 

 herbage on the plains. With the poorest 

 grasses there are generally wide interspaces 

 between the tussocks of high-growing species.. 

 If these intervals could be filled with other 

 forage- plants, the consequence would be a 

 greater amount of food to the acre. 



In the effort to naturalize foreign species ot 

 forage-plants, attention should be x^aid to all 

 forms of plants that can aftbrd pasturage or 

 browsing. There are manj' forms that would 

 be likely to do well along the streams, that 

 might not succeed so well in the open country. 



The regions that are likel}' to furnish plants 

 calculated to fiourish in a region of low rain- 

 fall include a large part of the earth's surface. 

 Those that would succeed in Dakota are not 

 likelj' to do well in Texas or Arizona. For 

 the northern region, the uplands of northern 

 Asia or of Patagonia are the most promising 

 fields of search ; while, for the middle and 

 southern fields, the valley of the La Plata, 

 southern Africa, Australia, and the Algerian 

 district, may be looked to for suitable species. 



The experiment is naturally one for the fed- 

 eral government to undertake, but it need not 

 be cost!}'. Three experimental stations- — one 

 in tlie noi'thern part of Nebraska, one in Texas, 

 and one in Arizona — would serve the needs 

 of a thorough trial. Ten tliousand dollars 

 per annum at each station should meet all the 

 expenses of a sufficient trial ; at least, until 

 it was proven that the experiment would be 

 successful. If we add the expenses of a trav- 

 elling student of wild forage-plants (perhaps 



