ARTIFICIAL EESEEDING ON" WESTERN" MOUNTAIN" RANGE LANDS 27 



SLENDER WHEATGRASS 



This species {Agropyi^on teneruin) is the most widely distributed 

 of our native Agropyrons and occurs in dry mountain meadows, 

 along mountain valleys, and in other medium-moist, well-drained 

 situations. Cattle and horses will readil}^ eat practically the entire 

 aerial portion of slender wheatgrass and thrive upon it. It is well 

 suited to sheep up to about the time of flowering, when the leafage 

 becomes somewhat harsh. In late summer sheep greatly relish the 

 grain, which, if mixed with more succulent feed, aids in putting on 

 hard, substantial fat. Later in the fall and winter the dried herbage 

 affords winter grazing. As a range forage grass whose seed is pro- 

 curable in the market, slender wheatgrass deserves consideration 

 because of its early growth and maturit}^, good palatability, very 

 good nutritive qualities, good crop of viable seed, alkali tolerance, 

 and virtual freedom from awns or beards. It seems to be the best 

 perennial grass known to be adapted to dry-land conditions, with 

 the exception of common bromegrass, and it is extensively cultivated 

 in the northern Great Plains for hay and paturage (2-5). Slender 

 wheatgrass is an exceedingly variable species, extreme forms being 

 difficult to separate on the one hand from bearded wheatgrass and 

 on the other from violet wheatgrass. It affords, therefore, attrac- 

 tive possibilities for selective breeding. 



The forage value and wide distribution of this species and the 

 comparative ease with which it may be established indicate that it 

 has great possibilities for future range improvement if an adequate 

 seed supply at low cost can be made available. 



OTHER WHEATGRASSES 



Several other species of wheatgrass are worthy of extensive trial 

 on range lands. These include blue-bunch wheatgrass {Agropyron 

 spicatum)^ bearded wheatgrass {A. can'mwm)^ bluestem {A. smithii), 

 streambank ^^heatgrass {A. riparium) ^ and thickspike wheatgrass 

 {A. dasystachyum) . The first two are bunch grasses, whereas the 

 other three have rootstocks. 



Blue-bunch wheatgrass was formerly one of the most important 

 forage grasses in the foothills and adjacent valleys, plains, and 

 mountain slopes throughout the Columbia Basin and Great Basin in 

 Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Nevada, and Utah. It occurs through- 

 out the sagebrush belt, on open dry hills and mountain slopes and 

 timbered mountain slopes up to 8,500 feet. On millions of acres of 

 open public domain and other range land where grazing has not 

 been properly regulated it has succumbed to overstocking and too- 

 early grazing. It has practically disappeared from much of the 

 sagebrush type where such use has prevailed, being replaced by 

 downy chess {Bromus tectorum), an annual of little value for 

 grazing except for a relatively few weeks in the spring. Blue- 

 bunch wheatgrass is an especially valuable grass on spring, fall, and 

 winter range for cattle, horses, and sheep, and cattle and horses graze 

 it throughout the summer as well. Its drawbacks are its lack of 

 high resistance to grazing and its poor seed production, particu- 

 larly on the drier sites. These characteristics necessitate judicious 

 range management. Artificial reseeding to establish an early stand 



