ARTIFICIAL EESEEDING ON WESTERN MOUNTAIN RANGE LANDS 35 



exclusion of livestock until the soil has settled sufficiently to endure 

 trampling, and the value of the native vegetation which was de- 

 stroyed by the plowing is lost. These considerations, together with 

 the high cost and difficulty of plowing areas abounding in rocks and 

 brush, make harrowing the most practical expedient, except on those 

 exceptional sites where optimum conditions of soil, surface character, 

 and yield expectancy obtain. 



Harrowing is ordinarily done but once — after the seed has been 

 sown. This is ordinarily sufficient where the ground is not unduly 

 compacted. It is doubtful if, under range conditions, a double har- 

 rowing — before and after sowing — is ever sufficiently advantageous 

 to justify the extra cost involved. On very loose soils it may be 

 preferable not to use the harrow at all, lest the seed be covered too 

 deeply. 



Where harrowing is employed to cover the seed or to stir the soil 

 somewhat the farmer's ordinary steel-tooth harrow may be used to 



Figure 



. — A wooden-peg A harrow, made of alpine fir, used effectively in an arti- 

 ficial reseeding near timber line, Wallowa National Forest, Oreg. 



advantage. Transportation facilities or the kind of ground surface 

 to be treated may, however, govern to some degree. The use of this 

 type of harrow presupposes that the area to be sown is accessible by 

 team and wagon and that the ground to be planted is reasonably clear 

 of rank vegetation, rocks, or other objects which prevent the harrow 

 teeth from reaching the ground. 



The roughly constructed wooden-peg A harrow may be used under 

 much the same conditions as the steel-tooth harrow and has the 

 advantage of not having to be transported long distances. The only 

 tools needed to construct the wooclen-peg A harrow wherever mate- 

 rials are available are an ax and an auger or brace and bit. 



The wooden-peg A harrow which is dragged by a rope attached to 

 the saddle horn (fig. 2) consists of a framework of three logs, each 



