IMPROVEMENT OF THE NATIVE PASTURE-LANDS, 187 
ness ; 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. Euro- 
pean experiments in naturalizing grasses have been fairly successful, as in the 
case of grasses to protest dunes from the action of the wind. 
There are many regions in the world where grasses have developed to suit 
just such conditions 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 Rocky Mountains was well watered ; while in Austra- 
lia it seems likely that the dryness of the climate has been in existence from rather 
a remote past. The same is probably the case in the northern parts of Asia and 
in South Africa. Good effects from the introduction of foreign forage plants may 
be hoped for, if the only 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 of forage-plants, attention should 
be paid to all forms of plants that can afford pasturage or browsing. There are 
many 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 likely to furnish plants calculated to flourish in a region 
of low rainfall include a large part of the earth's surface. Those that would suc- 
ceed in Dakota are not likely 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 suita- 
ble species. 
The experiment is naturally one for the federal government to undertake, 
but it need not be costly. Three experimental stations — one in the northern part 
of Nebraska, one in Texas, and one in Arizona — would serve the needs of a thor- 
ough trial. Ten thousand 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 travelling student of wild 
forage-plants (perhaps another five thousand dollars), we would have a sufficient 
basis for practical work. If the result should be to increase by only one-tenth 
the beast-maintaining power of our wild lands, the effort would be worth many 
millions per annum to the nation. When we consider that the introduction of the 
species of Poa which receive the name of "blue-grass " has manifolded the past- 
urage-value of the regions where it flourishes, it is evident that the project is 
worth consideration. — Science. 
