EEPRODUCTIOlSr OF WESTERN YEULOW PINE. 129 



The fenced plots 3a and 3b, to which repeated reference has 

 been made in this bulletin, lie in the midst of one of the most ex- 

 tensive bunch-grass regions. Outside the fenced plots the bunch 

 grasses apparently constitute about 95 per cent of the herbaceous 

 vegetation. Sheep scarcely graze these grasses at all, but depend 

 mainly upon the more succulent herbage of the weed type which 

 grows up around stumps and brush piles. Close inspection reveals 

 the fact that considerable amounts of weed forage grow in these 

 situations, but that jthey are usually so badly overgrazed that the 

 ground appears almost bare. It is estimated that on cut-over lands 

 about 20 per cent of the area is of this character. In the bunch- 

 grass association proper such deterioration has taken place that 

 the species which are palatable to sheep are almost entirely absent. 

 Inside the fence large quantities of vetch and red-and-yellow pea, 

 both excellent sheep forage, grow in mixture with the bunch grasses. 

 Around stumps, corresponding to the bare spots outside, a luxuri- 

 ant mixture of June grass, barley grass, vetch, red-and-yellow pea, 

 yarrow, geranium, goldenrod, and many other species of the weed 

 type have taken complete possession. A merely casual comparison 

 of conditions inside and outside the inclosures is sufficient to show 

 that from the standpoint of sheep forage the outside range is 

 severely overgrazed. 



Tables 13 and 30 show that the areas around stumps, or " stump 

 patches," which bear practically the entire supply of palatable 

 sheep feed on the range at large, suffer much more with respect to 

 damage by sheep than do the surrounding bunch-grass areas. At 

 jfirst thought this relation appears to be contrary to the general 

 opinion that damage by sheep is less on areas stocked with palatable 

 sheep forage than on areas lacking in this type of plants. The fact 

 is, however, that the quantity of good sheep forage is entirely inade- 

 quate ; hence the patches on which it predominates are very severely 

 overgrazed. If the number of sheep were reduced to such an extent 

 that the areas bearing good sheep forage would not be overgrazed, 

 it is reasonable to expect a decrease of damage to pine reproduction. 

 Such a reduction would also tend to restore the more valuable sheep 

 forage plants in the bunch-grass association and then the range as 

 a whole would be greatly improved from the standpoint of grazing 

 as well as forestry. 



BENEFITS FROM GKAZING. 



Thus far we have dwelt entirely upon the damage to pine seed- 

 lings by grazing. Grazing is in many ways beneficial to reproduc- 

 tion and to the forest as a whole. The value, from the standpoint 

 of fire protection, of keeping down herbaceous vegetation which, if 

 904°— 23 9 



