ARTIFICIAL RESEEDING ON WESTERN MOUNTAIN RANGE LANDS 5 



Ingram {13)^ has reported a number of successful seedings on 

 logged and burned-off areas in the Cascades region of western 

 Oregon. The seed, either orchard grass alone or in mixture with 

 velvet grass and red and white clovers, was sown in the ashes in 

 the fall or on snow late the following winter. Ingram found that 

 if the seed is sown as soon as the ashes cool it germinates with 

 the first fall rains and more mature root systems are thereby as- 

 sured, provided there is sufficient snow in the winter to prevent 

 frost heaving. Also, the plants themselves appear to be stimulated 

 by the potash or other fertilizing elements of the ashes. On the 

 other hand, sowing on the packed snow makes for a more even and 

 sure seed distribution, since the swath can be plainly seen on the 

 snow and logs are less difficult to surmount with a packed-snow 

 cover. Good stands have been obtained with both methods. Teutsch 

 reports a successful seeding by airplane in Coos County, Oreg., in 

 the fall of 1927, of 1,000 acres of logged and burned-off land to 

 orchard grass, perennial rj^egrass, and white and alsike clovers. 

 Forty-five pounds of seed per acre, costing about $1,000 altogether, 

 was used, the seeding costs being $420, making a total cost of $1.42 

 per acre, an estimated net saving of $1,080 over the cost of hand 

 seeding {32). 



SUPPLEMENTAKY SEEDING TO CONTROL POISONOUS PLANTS 



In the control of poisonous plants, such as tall larkspur, by grub- 

 bing, the plant cover is thinned out more or less and the soil is left 

 in fair condition to receive seed. Where native forage plants are not 

 adequate to reseed the areas, the tendency is for worthless plants to 

 come in and for the larkspur to become reestablished. AVhere grow- 

 ing conditions are favorable it is advisable to sow the seed of some 

 native forage plants or the more promising cultivated species, since 

 this insures earlier improvement of the range and tends to restrict 

 reinfestation by obnoxious plants. 



In a test conducted on the North Fork division of the Holy Cross 

 National Forest, Colo., by Forest Eanger W. M. Scanlan and a stock 

 permittee, Robert Reed, the seed of redtop ^ and orchard grass was 

 sown in some small gulches, where monkshood {Aconituni sp.), lark- 

 spur {Delphiniuni ^^.) ^ and false-hellebore or skunkcabbage {Vera- 

 trum calif orni cum) grew. No effort was made to thin out the native 

 vegetation prior to seeding. Where the ground was sufficiently wet 

 the redtop crowded out the weeds. On the drier areas, although a 

 good stand of redtop was obtained, it was mixed with the false helle- 

 bore which the redtop seemed unable to displace. 



COST AND RETURNS FROM ARTIFICIAL RESEEDING 



In determining whether or not the expense involved in the reseed- 

 ing process will be offset, within a reasonable period, by the resulting 



Italic numbers in parentheses reifer to Literature Cited, p. 46. 

 ■ A check list of the common and scientific names of species n 



names of species mentioned in this circular 

 appears on p. 45. 



