946 SHEEP INDUSTRY OP THE UNITED STATES. 



a population of over 4,000,000 people and double the present live stock 

 of the Territory. 



ARIZONA KANGE GRASSES. 



From Bulletin No. 2 of the Agricultural Experiment Station, which 

 was issued last September, 1 extract the following notes on some of the 

 range grasses: 



The country embraced in what is known as the " Great American Basin," in which 

 the whole of Arizona is included, has a vegetation in most respects entirely diifer- 

 entthan elsewhi-re in the United States. The soft and succulent grasses of the 

 Eastern and Central States have given place to a great variety of grasses, mostly 

 with short, rigid leaves and hard stems or culms. Experiment has already demon- 

 strated that the lack of moisture makes it impossible for the Eastern grasses to suc- 

 ceed here, hence it is to our native grasses we will have to look in the development 

 of grasses in this Territory. 



It yeit remains to be determined which of these grasses will be of greatest value 

 under cultivation, or will succeed with the least amount of water. Although a 

 large number of our native grasses are hard and rigid as a rule, they are eagerly 

 eaten by horses and cattle, and many of them contain much more nutritive matter 

 than the more succulent grasses of the East. 



The physical conditions of Arizona are such that only comparatively a small per 

 cent of her lands under present conditions can be brought under cultivation. Much 

 of the remainder is valuable grazing land, but still there are areas which, from their 

 lack of accessible watering places for stock, are of little value except for their min- 

 eral deposits. 



Of the vast region supporting thousands of head of horses, cattle, and sheep, the 

 better part of the grass forage consists of less than a dozen indigenous species. It 

 is true that during a large part of the year the cattle pick about, in many places 

 feeding mostly upon the foliage of shrubs, only getting a dainty bit of grass here 

 and there ; but it is the few species of grass that spring into rapid growth after the 

 late summer rains, and cover the mesa for miles about, that the stockmeu. depend 

 upon to put their stock in fit condition for the Kansas and California market. The 

 meager rains during the past summer have done much to shorten the fall feed, and 

 in general throughout the Territory the feed is much more scant than is usual at 

 this season of the year. 



A large number of species grow along rivers and creeks, in the close vicinity of the 

 tanks and springs and in other moist places. These grasses, although of great 

 variety, are — with the exception of DisticliUs maritima, an almost worthless forage 

 grass, and a few others — only found in isolated bunches. In fact, nowhere in Ari- 

 zona do we iind a continuous natural sod. 



Altogether these grasses furnish but a small part of the forage of the range, as 

 they only grow in the vicinity of water, where their roots evidently reach moisture 

 throughout the year. Many of them are excellent forage plants so far as they go, 

 but they cover a very small per cent of the entire range. Ordinarily they are kept 

 cropped short by stock as they congregate about the watering places to drink. 



The second class, and by far the most important, are the grasses that find a foot- 

 hold on the mesas, along the sides of mountains and in valleys. Covering large areas 

 they furnish the greater part of the grass forage of the Territory. These grasses aie 

 of but a few species and include the grasses known among stockmen as "mesquite,'' 

 "gramma," and "saccato." Many of these grasses have hard and wiry leaves and 

 culms, but are very nutritious and are generally well liked by stock. They grow 

 rapidly after the summer rains, furnishing fine forage for the fall and winter months. 



The boutelouas, generally known as "gramma grass," are the most important of 

 the proper range grasses of Arizona. A number of species of this Southwestern 

 genus can be found on nearly every range in the Territory. 



