454 



MEADOWS AND PASTURES 



MEADOWS AND PASTURES 



(Astragalus), saltbushes, winterfat (Eurotia), plan- 

 tains, alfilaria, Stolley vetch, tallow-weed (Actinella), 

 tall tallow-weed (Amblyolepis), beggarweed, wild 

 bean. Prickly pear and other cacti have been used 

 for forage in this section by burning off the spines 

 (page 226). 



The Great Plains region. 



The native grasses and forage plants of this 

 region do not play such an important part in 

 agriculture as formerly. There are still, however, 

 immense tracts of open prairie from which large 

 quantities of native hay are cut. In wet and 

 swampy places, slough-grass (Spartina), if cut when 



The Roeky.mountain region. 



The cultivated crops grown in this region are 

 insignificant compared with the millions of cattle, 

 sheep and horses that subsist on the summer moun- 

 tain ranges and the winter desert feeding-grounds. 

 The Red Desert of Wyoming alone is estimated to 

 winter 300,000 to 500,000 sheep. In Wyoming 

 some alfalfa is grown, but the bulk of the hay is 

 made from the native grasses. The native meadows 

 are composed chiefly of blue-grasses (Poa), wheat- 

 grasses (Agropgron), brome- grasses (Bromus), 

 rye-grasses (Elymus), blue-joint, needle-grass, hair- 

 grass, mountain timothy (Phleum), mountain fox- 

 tail (Alopeeurus), sedges and rushes. In the foothills 



Fig. 677. Mountain or bunch-grass pasture in tne lar west. 



young, furnishes a supply of coarse hay. Several 

 blue-stems together with switch-grass [Panieum), 

 side-oats grama {Bouteloua), and western wheat- 

 grass, supply the bulk of the native hay. All of 

 these are also valuable for pasturage, but the two 

 chief pasture grasses are buffalo-grass and blue 

 grama. Other grasses of importance are wild rye, 

 wild timothy, reed canary-grass, and needle-grass 

 [Stipa). Two native forage plants, other than 

 grasses, which have come into prominence because 

 of their forage value are the wild vetch (Hosackia; 

 see the article on Vetch, page 658) and Beckwith's 

 clover (Trifolium Beckwithii). The former occurs 

 more or less abundantly throughout the prairie 

 region, while the latter is common in low meadows 

 along the upper Sioux valley and other places in 

 South Dakota. As elsewhere on the open ranges 

 of the country, much harm has been done by 

 over-scocKing 



bordering on the Great Plains region, blue grama is 

 abundant and important. Sheep's fescue and snow- 

 grass (Festuea) are also important on the high 

 mountain ridges. 



Two native species of clover. Rocky mountain 

 and Beckwith's, add greatly to the nutritive value 

 of the meadow hay in some places. There are very 

 many other plants, both annual and perennial, as 

 well as a large variety of shrubs, which are of 

 value from a forage standpoint, but cannot be here 

 enumerated. 



The Great Basin region. 



This region is bounded on the west by the Sierra 

 Nevada mountains, extending northward to include 

 parts of Oregon and Idaho, and southward to 

 northern Arizona. Sagebrush and rabbit-brush 

 (Chrysothamnus) are the prevailing plants, except 

 where alkali is present, when the vegetation changes 



