AETIFICIAL EESEEDING ON WESTERN MOUNTAIX EANGE LANDS 9 



with wages figured at $4 a day, sowing will amount to about 40 

 cents per acre. 



The cost of covering the seed after sowing varies with the methods 

 used. Plowing followed by harrowing may run up as high as $3.50 

 or $4 per acre. Going over the area once with a steel-tooth harrow 

 will cost about 50 cents an acre for each treatment, and a single 

 treatment with a brush drag or an A wooden-peg harrow will cost 

 about the same. Trampling the seed in with sheep costs practically 

 nothing if the sheep are already in the vicinity of the area to be 

 planted. Cost will largeh^ decide the method to be used, but the 

 effectiveness of the method must also be considered. 



TIME EEQUIBED FOR A STAND TO BECOME ESTABLISHED 



Few species reach maximum production in less than two years, 

 and others require as many as five years under favorable conditions. 

 Species that get well started by the second year include many of 

 the bunch grasses such as timothy, orchard grass, and mountain 

 bromegrasses. Some of the plants with rootstocks are slower in 

 reaching a point where the forage yield is high. Kentucky blue- 

 grass is especially slow, often requiring five years or more. The 

 more adverse the growing conditions the longer will be the time for 

 any of the species to get well under way. Short, cool growing sea- 

 sons and scanty moisture or periods of drought operate to slow up 

 the development of the vegetation. From the time of sowing to 

 the establishment of the stand the initial cost of seeding is augmented 

 by the accumulation of interest on the initial cost and on the value 

 of the investment in land and bv taxes. 



PERMANENCE OF THE STAND 



To be economically justified, artificial reseeding must result in a 

 forage crop so " permanent " that the seeding operations will not 

 have to be repeated before the cost of the original planting, plus 

 accrued interest and amy other costs, has been retired. Success in 

 this respect will depend upon whether species used are long-lived, 

 upon their ability to reproduce promptly under reasonable protec- 

 tion, and upon the manner in which the forage is utilized. Most 

 of the perennial bunch grasses live 8 to 10 years or longer on the 

 favorable sites, but some are inclined to run out in about 5 to 7 years 

 on less favorable sites. The plants with running rootstocks are not 

 likely to die out for a great many years, except in cases where the 

 stand is so dense that it becomes sod bound, which seldom occurs on 

 range land. Some of these plants will die because of adverse climate 

 and from other causes, but if the vegetation is able to propagate 

 from seed or any vegetative means the stand will normally be re- 

 newed and improved. The length of life of the forage plants and 

 their ability to revegetate both depend upon management that 

 will prevent overgrazing and insure production of seed. Careful 

 selection of species and judicious management may reasonably be 

 expected to result in the stand of introduced species becoming 

 permanent. 



60371°— 31 2 



