440 GRASSES AND HOW TO GROW THEM. 



away far enough to become lost, and in winter when 

 necessary, they were fed hay, provided for them in sum- 

 mer. This method of iranching is rapidly superseding 

 the open range system, and in time will probably super- 

 sede it entirely. 



Carrying Capacity of Western Ranges. — ^When the 

 ranges were first grazed by domestic animals, their car- 

 rying capacity was considerably more than at the pres- 

 ent time. The grazing was much more abundant then 

 than now on the greater portion of the range. The 

 grasses or many of them were famed, and justly so, 

 for their nutrition. But they were short and thin 

 in proportion as moisture was wanting. In places 

 only where moisture was plentiful was there a stiff 

 turf formed. Upon much of the range, the grass 

 plants grew independently, as it were, without any 

 crowding and the relative number of the plants de- 

 creased with increasing hardness of conditions, until 

 in some localities but few plants appeared among the 

 sage bushes, and finally that stage was reached in places, 

 where the country was desert. At no time probably 

 could one. cattle beast be sustained for a year on less 

 than 10 acres on an average, from produce grown upon 

 the untilled range. At the present time, the carrying 

 power of the range is much less than it was years ago. 

 But the change in ranching referred to, is likely to 

 modify this process and in the end greatly increase 

 the carrying power of the range. 



The Range Country in Canada. — It would not be cor- 

 rect to say of any province in Canada that it is en- 

 tirely a range country, as in all the provinces where 



