ARTIFICIAL EESEEDING ON WESTERN MOUNTAIN RANGE LANDS 25 

 NATIVE GRASSES 



It seems reasonable to suppose that native or wild species are 

 naturally better adapted to the growing conditions where they occur 

 than any cultivated species could be and that it would be a wise 

 plan to undertake range improvement by sowing the seed of the 

 better native forage species. The practicability of using these native 

 species in artificially reseeding depleted range lands depends, how- 

 ever, upon the availability of good seed at reasonable cost. The 

 seed of only one of our native forage species, slender wheatgrass 

 {Agropyron tenerum)^ is obtainable on the market at the present 

 time. Collection of the seed of the others on the range is usually 

 rather expensive, and the seed is apt to produce a very low per- 

 centage of plants. It is obvious that future use of these native 

 species in artificial reseeding will largely depend on what may be 

 done toward quantity production, at a reasonable cost, of satisfac- 

 torily viable seed. The determination as to which native range 

 plants give promise for cultivation is a wide field for study and one 

 in which relatively little work has as yet been done, either by indi- 

 viduals or by governmental agencies. Some of the results thus far 

 obtained are, however, rather encouraging. 



Investigations by the Forest Service have been concentrated largely 

 at the Great Basin branch of the Intermountain Forest and Range 

 Experiment Station in the Wasatch Mountains of central Utah and 

 at the Fort Vallej branch of the Southwestern Forest and Range 

 Experiment Station in northern Arizona. In all, about 45 species, 

 mainly grasses, have been tested. 



BIG MOUNTAIN BROMEGEASSES 



The big mountain bromegrasses {Bromus carinatus^ B, mar- 

 ginutus^ B. polyanthus^ and B. suhvelutinus) are very closely related 

 and for practical purposes are treated here as a unit. These brome- 

 grasses are almost universal in the cooler, moister montane areas of 

 the West; all are perennials, without rootstocks but with deeply 

 seated masses of fibrous roots; all have copious leafage of good 

 quality, produce an abundance of good seed, and provide excellent 

 forage for cattle, sheep, and horses. They grow at elevations of 

 5,000 to 10,000 feet, in moderately moist to moderately dry clay loam 

 and sandy loam soils. Extensive tests at the Great Basin branch 

 station with B. marginatus and B. polyanthus show that the plants 

 make fair growth at 7,200 feet elevation where the average annual 

 precipitation is about 18 inches and make excellent growth at eleva- 

 tions between 8,000 and 10,000 feet where the precipitation is 12 

 inches more. (PI. 2, A.) They produce a good stand by the second 

 year after seeding. These two species have the advantage of being 

 able to grow in rather poor, depleted soil. Although all the brome- 

 grasses are easily killed out by continued close grazing they hold up 

 and continue to produce well under any rational system of cropping. 

 When cut as hay on good soils, they have yielded as high as 2 tons 

 per acre; on poorer soils, of course, the yield is less. Recent tests 

 with B. carinatus and B, subvehdinus show approximately equal 

 results. 



