A REPORT UPON THE GRASSES AND FORAGE PLANTS 
UF THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN REGION. 
By P. A. RYDBERG and C. L. SHEAR. 
FIELD NOTES AND GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. 
MONTANA. 
Our observations and collections made in Montana were limited to 
the Beaver Head, Big Hole, Deer Lodge, Gallatin, Madison, and upper 
Missouri valleys. 
BEAVER HEAD VALLEY. 
In this valley we visited three places—Lima, 
Red Rock, and Dillon. At Lima the valley is 
about 5 miles wide. It is mostly dry, except 
along the Beaver Head Creek and in small areas 
here and there irrigated in a very primitive fash- 
ion from springs among the mountains and foot- 
hills. Very little is under cultivation, but there 
is much good land available for that purpose, 
and much eould be irrigated if all the water at 
hand were properly used. Most of the valley is 
used for pasture, but on account of the dryness 
the grass is scanty and poor. The most common 
grasses were Agropyron spicatum S. & S., Agropy- 
ron divergens Nees (fig. 1), Poa buckleyana Nash, 
and Koeleria cristata Pers. A sedge (Carex 
Jilifolia) is also very common. East of the town, 
along the tributaries of Beaver Head Creek, there 
were some fair meadows. The principal grasses 
were Calamagrostis neglecta Giertn. (fig. 2), a 
species of Poa (near P. fendleriana) gad Des- 
champsia cespitosa Beanv. 
The lands most valuable for grazing were the Fre. 1. e Werte e 
foothills and mountain sides, on account of the % divergens) d 
moisture from the melting snows which still remained on the higher 
slopes and peaks in the early part of August. The most valuable 
