14 BULLETIN 34, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



windmills. In years of normal rainfall the springs and small moun- 

 tain streams are often replenished by the autumn rains, so that graz- 

 ing after seed maturity is usually possible in all but the driest situa- 

 tions. 



In range management under a system of deferred grazing the first 

 things to consider are (1) the time at which the seeds of the im- 

 portant forage plants mature and (2) the proportion of the grazing 

 season remaining after seed maturity. These things must be known 

 in order to determine what portion of the range may be set aside 

 for autumn grazing. In the Wallowa Mountains one-fifth of the 

 grazing season remained after the seed had matured, and accordingly 

 one-fifth of the carrying capacity of each summer grazing division or 

 allotment could be reserved annually for reseeding. The time of seed 

 maturity varies, of course, with elevation and climate, and so will 

 the proportion of range which may be set aside for deferred grazing. 

 Since range lands are usually grazed by camps, the user will have no 

 difficulty in selecting such areas. 



Once the area in need of reseeding has been selected, no stock 

 should be allowed on it until after the seed has ripened. It should 

 then be closely grazed, but not destructively. The stock should pass 

 at least once over the entire area, so that the seed may be worked 

 thoroughly into the ground. During the following season the same 

 area should again be protected from grazing until the seed crop 

 has matured. This is essential not only for the production of another 

 seed crop but also to allow the young plants resulting from the seed 

 of the previous year to become established. Early grazing must be 

 avoided until the young plants are thoroughly established. Grazing 

 during the second season should be lighter than in the first year in 

 order to keep down destruction of the seedling stand. Massing and 

 running the stock by dogs should be done away with as far as pos- 

 sible, and the stock should have the greatest practicable freedom. 

 Ordinarily, an area should once more be grazed by the deferred 

 method the third season, to insure the final establishment of a repro- 

 duction from the first year's seed crop and to give the seedlings 

 from the second year's crop a chance to develop. 



If three seasons of deferred grazing prove ample time for thorough 

 revegetation of an area, a new portion of the range in need of re- 

 seeding should be selected and managed in the same way. Through 

 this continuous rotation it will not only be possible to restore the 

 entire range, but, once it has been restored, to maintain the full carry- 

 ing capacity of the lands. 



