MEADOWS AND PASTURES 



MEADOWS AND PASTURES 



455 



to iodine weed (Suada), greasewood (Sarcobdtus), 

 saltgrass {Distichlis), and saltbushes, according to 

 the percentage of injurious mineral salts in the 

 soils. In the central part of Nevada, along the 

 Humboldt river, there are immense tracts of 

 wild native hay and pasture lands. The stock is 

 allowed to roam in the hills during the summer 

 and in the autumn is turned into the meadows 

 after the hay is all stacked, when they feed among 

 the tules (Typha) and other places inaccessible 

 to the mower. The hay consists largely of wild 

 wheat-grass (Elymus). It is sold at so much per 

 day for range stock being fattened for market. 

 In the desert regions there are numerous moun- 

 tain valleys irrigated by the melting snow from 

 the mountains. These produce an abundance of 

 native hay and pasturage, comprised largely of 

 blue-grasses, clovers, sedges and rushes. Giant 

 rye-grass (Elymus), when young and green, is cut 

 in considerable quantities and left in bunches where 

 the cattle feed on it in winter when other forage 

 becomes scarce. There are hundreds of other plants 

 of considerable value that are browsed on through- 

 out the year to a greater or less extent. 



Pacific slope region. 



In this region might be included the states of 

 California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho and the ter- 

 ritory of Alaska. It may be divided into the follow- 

 ing geographical sections, each with its character- 

 istic climate, (a) Pacific coast ; (6) upper Pacific 

 coast; (e) interior valley of California; (d) the 

 Inland Empire ; and (e) Alaska. 



(a) Pacific coast. — This section is characterized 

 by low hills of usually poor soil, although in a few 

 places the coast line has been eroded and has 

 formed fertile flood plains. On these bottom lands 

 one acre to a cow is usually sufficient, and stock 

 is on pasture for nine months of the year. The 

 native pasturage consists of oat-grass (Danthonia), 

 red fescue, hair-grass (Deschampsia), blue-grass 

 (Poa), and about ten wild clovers (Trifolium), while 

 mixed with these to a greater or less extent are a 

 number of introduced species, such as the perennial 

 and Italian ray-grasses (Lolium), velvet-grass, soft 

 chess, white clover, bur-clover {Medicago), black 

 medic and alfilaria. 



(b) Upper Padfic coast. — This section includes 

 northern California and the western parts of Ore- 

 gon and Washington. The pastures consist mainly 

 of tufted hair-grass (Deschampsia), white-top, 

 meadow barley-grass (Hordeum), oat-grass, prairie 

 June-grass {Kceleria), California fescue, reed- 

 grass, slough-grass (Beekmannia), melic- grass 

 (Melica), sheep's fescue, blue-grasses and several 

 needle-grasses (Stipa). Adding greatly to the nutri- 

 tive value of the hay and pastures are about fif- 

 teen species of native clovers. The mountain ranges 

 also support an almost endless variety of plants 

 of forage value, such as the vetches, wild lupines, 

 sunflowers, wild carrots, Indian potato and many 

 others. To the detriment of the native plants, three 

 weedy brome-grasses, velvet-grass, small barley- 

 grass and squirrel-tail grass have become natural- 

 ized. Hogs are usually turned into the woods, where 



they find plenty to eat almost the entire year 

 round, feeding on acorns, nuts, manzanita berries, 

 bulbs and tubers, together with grasses and clovers. 



(c) Interior valley of California. — This section 

 includes two immense valleys, which form a huge 

 basin in the central part of California. Locally 

 the basin is divided into the San Joaquin and Sac- 

 ramento valleys, named after the rivers which run 

 through them. The flood waters of these rivers 

 extend during the spring months over hundreds of 

 square miles of land, making it worthless except 

 for pasturage, and then only in the late summer 

 months. As the waters recede, a strong dense 

 growth of tules (Seirpus) is produced, which, to- 

 gether with sedges, rushes and water-loving grasses, 

 provides forage for large numbers of stock. 



(d) The Inland Empire or Columbia Basin. — This 

 includes parts of eastern Washington, northeastern 

 Oregon and northern Idaho. In the Palouse country 

 of eastern Washington, wheat and wild oats are 

 largely grown for hay. Those sections of the Em- 

 pire having a rainfall of less than ten inches are 

 devoted largely to grazing and the production of 

 alfalfa by irrigation. Large areas have been over- 

 stocked and the native meadows are being replaced 

 by cultivated crops. Some, of the grasses of special 

 importance growing indigenously in the meadows 

 and bottom lands are western and false wheat-grass, 

 white-top, water foxtail, blue-joint (Calamagrostis), 

 oat-grass, hair-grass (Deschampsia), saltgrass (Dis- 

 tichlis), wild rye, meadow barley-grass, melic-grass, 

 manna-grass and blue-grasses. On the dry hills in 

 the ravines and among the sagebrush, the following 

 are of considerable importance ; bunch wheat-grass 

 (Agropyron), mountain rye-grass (Elymus), sheep's 

 fescue, needle-grasses (Stipa) and false oat-grass 

 (Trisetum.) 



In addition to the above there are about ten 

 native clovers, nearly all of which are very nutri- 

 tious and well liked by stock. The sedges and 

 rushes are. also extremely abundant and enter 

 largely into the composition of all the native 

 meadows and pastures. As in other regions devoted 

 to grazing, the vetches, milk-vetches, lupines, sun- 

 flowers, saltbushes and wild peas play an important, 

 part in the production of forage. 



(e) Alaska. — Only a small part of this new terri- 

 tory has been investigated from a forage stand- 

 point. The chief literature describing the meadows 

 and pastures is to be found in the annual report of 

 the office of Experiment Stations for the year 1904, 

 Bulletin No. 82 of the Bureau of Plant Industry, 

 and the publications of the Alaska Experiment 

 Station. The following extract from Bulletin No. 82 

 will give some idea as to the present conditions : 

 "Live-stock husbandry in Alaska will have to de- 

 pend primarily on the native forage plants, sup- 

 plemented in time, perhaps, by such additional ones 

 as experiments shall indicate may compete with the 

 native plants, or which on cultivated land will yield 

 heavily enough to be profitable." 



Blue-top, beach rye, Kentucky blue-grass, silver- 

 top, Siberian fescue, various, sedges, Alaska lupine 

 and fireweed are mentioned as being the best native 

 forage plants. 



