20 BULLETIN 790, U. S. DEPARTMENT GF AGRICULTURE. 



palatability. This is apt to occur on intensely used ranges. jS"o rule 

 of thumb can be laid down for guidance until all forest officers are 

 familiar with the forage plants and their comparative palatability. 

 The best that can be done is to recognize that an important problem 

 exists and to look out for it and study systematically the life history 

 and relative economic importance of the different range plants. 



OVERGKAZING THE E^DEEGROWTH ON BROWSE RANGES. 



The forage crop on many browse ranges combines grasses and weeds 

 with browse plants, the grasses and weeds growing on open spots or 

 under the browse species. Grazing the browse as heavily as it will 

 stand often results in overgrazing of the grasses and weeds. It is 

 difficult to decide where to draw the line so as to maintain the most 

 satisfactory combination. Data suitable for the basis of a definite 

 rule are lacking and would be difficult to obtain, owing to the many 

 variations in the combination of browse and herbaceous forage. It 

 is hoped that intensive studies of browse range can be undertaken in 

 the near future. A few suggestions, however, may be advanced at 

 the present time. 



Many species of browse are grazed by both cattle and sheep 

 early in the spring when they first leaf out and again in late 

 fall and winter, rather than during late spring and summer. This is 

 partly explained, perhaps, by the greater abundance and succulence 

 of grasses and weeds during the late spring and summer than in early 

 spring, fall, and winter. In some cases this fact can be taken ad- 

 vantage of to increase the grasses and weeds by deferring grazing on 

 the area until after the grasses and weeds have matured seed. The 

 browse forage can then be utilized. 



Where the palatable grasses and weeds make up approximately 25 

 per cent or less of the forage and are distributed throughout the 

 browse they should be sacrificed so long as the grazing does not result 

 in erosion, but care should be taken to watch this point, as it may 

 occur while there is still unused browse feed. Where this 25 per cent 

 of grasses and weeds is concentrated in small parks rather than dis- 

 tributed throughout the browse, lighter grazing of the area as a whole 

 will be necessary, or denudation and erosion may result on the open 

 lands and extend into the brush. Where the grasses and weeds make 

 up approximately 50 per cent of the forage, grazing should be man- 

 aged so as to perpetuate the herbaceous forage. In either case there 

 will probably be unused browse feed except where the browse is made 

 up of choice forage species. The surplus feed, however, will be an 

 advantage as reserve feed for occasional years when conditions are 

 unfavorable to forage growth. 



The foregoing paragraph applies to the browse types usually at 

 low altitudes in the woodland or below. On browse types following 



