RANGE MANAGEMENT IN NEW MEXICO. 33 



only temporarily, until their owners learn that they can produce much 

 more feed per acre by cultivating them, when they become agricultural 

 lands, and it is no longer an experiment to try to cultivate such lands. 



The commonly cultivated pasture grasses will not grow on much the 

 larger part of the lands of the State, because of insufficient moisture, 

 and these are the only pasture grasses whose seeds can be had in 

 quantity from dealers. There is little doubt that it would pay to sow 

 grama-grass seed over large areas of the range lands if good seed could 

 be had in quantity at a reasonable price, and this same statement is 

 true of several other valuable native grasses. But such seed can not 

 be bought in quantity at any price. Hence, the main reseeding 

 method is that of allowing the plants to reseed themselves. This 

 necessitates the protection of the seeding plants till the mature seeds 

 are distributed. The process is very slow at the start if the range is 

 badly eaten out, for relatively few viable seeds are then produced, 

 and germination conditions are rarely ever good even for the native 

 plants. But this method of improvement is, like all the others so far 

 mentioned, dependent upon the control of the land and the ability to 

 keep the stock off during the growing season. 



The control of stock. — Much of what has already been said in favor of 

 legalized range control has assumed the regulation of the number of 

 head of animals that may be allowed to graze on a given area. The 

 point of view, however, in each case has been that of advantage in the 

 production, preservation, or utilization of feed. 



Of equal importance in the management of any range is the control 

 of stock, i. e., the possibility of knowing where any given animal may 

 be found at any time. It is much easier to maintain a watch over 

 cattle and horses by " riding fence " than by " riding range." It takes 

 fewer men and fewer horses, and the information obtained as to the 

 condition of the stock is much more accurate. If a hundred cows are 

 put into a given pasture * it is only necessary to ride around the fence 

 to know whether any animals have broken in or out. One merely 

 needs to ride to the watering place at the proper time of day to find a 

 particular animal. Very rarely, indeed, must strays be hunted, and 

 bog holes may generally be fenced in, the danger being thus removed. 



Even though the pasture be many square miles in extent, it will take 

 only a few men to gather all the animals that are in it if the country is 

 open as is the case with most of New Mexico; and if the number of head 

 in the pasture is known, the number of head gathered shows the effi- 

 ciency of the men andjnakes it possible to ascertain the amount and 

 causes of all losses. 



i It must be remembered that this word is stretched from its ordinary usage so as to include areas that 

 may be many sections in extent instead of a few acres. 



