NATIVE PASTURE GRASSES OF THE UNITED STATES. 3 



of our range land capable of economical improvement through seed- 

 ing with any plants whose seed can be secured successfully is worth 

 more for farming purposes than for uncultivated pastures. Land 

 capable of being farmed is called for; consequently, pastures capable 

 of artificial improvement by easy displacement of native vegetation 

 are rapidly decreasing. 



The more moist situations, usually small in extent, where the use of 

 certain seed, such as that of timothy, redtop, and bluegrass, without 

 thorough cultivation, will produce economic results are, however, 

 in the aggregate extensive. (PL II, fig. 1.) These moist mountain 

 and other meadows can be improved greatly, and they constitute 

 the main areas where the use of seed upon land, without placing that 

 land under thorough cultivation, has been productive of economic 

 results. 



It is true that many introduced plants are of very great importance 

 upon some of the western ranges to-day, but those intentionally 

 introduced have as yet become of only minor importance, with the 

 exception of possibly some of the bur clovers, and even these can 

 scarcely be expected to become of greater importance than the com- 

 mon accidental introduction of very early date. The Australian 

 saltbush (Atriplex semibaccata) , from which so much was once ex- 

 pected, is now known to be very much restricted in importance. 

 This is not saying that plants may not yet be found which will 

 increase the feed upon some of the western uncultivated pastures. 

 Every effort should be made to introduce such crops. But it is 

 evident from past experience that over most of the native pastures 

 of our country we must depend mostly, if not entirely, upon the 

 native forage plants indigenous to the different regions (PL VII, 

 fig. 2). It is, therefore, highly important that these natives, which 

 are manifestly to furnish in the future, as in the past, the most 

 important part of the feed supply of the stock ranges, should receive 

 continuous and careful study. This paper is intended as a contri- 

 bution toward a better knowledge of the problems of these feeds. 



The immediate problem, as in agriculture generally, is one of pro- 

 duction. The copious literature on the subject of native pastures 

 which has been issued by the Department of Agriculture and the 

 State agricultural experiment stations clearly shows that the pro- 

 duction of feed has decreased and has been so modified upon acces- 

 sible lands as to furnish a poor indication of the production and the 

 aspect which once obtained. At present, it is only in areas where 

 ingenuity has not yet devised adequate water supply, or where 

 areas have been protected, that present feed production resembles 

 the original either in quality or quantity (PL I, figs. 1 and 2). 



