RANGE MANAGEMENT ON THE NATIONAL FORESTS. 57 



or 3 acres per cow per month, waste areas excluded. The main 

 reasons for this low grazing capacity, as compared with the capacity 

 of most farm pastures, are (1) the natural low productivity of the 

 range lands and (2) the range deterioration. 



Whatever the cause of low grazing capacity, it is only natural that 

 there should be many appeals to National, State, and private agencies 

 for seed of forage plants which will work wonders in the way of 

 increasing the supply of forage and improving its quality. Such 

 plants may be found or may be developed at some time in the distant 

 future; they are not available at present. 



There are, however, limited areas within the National Forests upon 

 which the expense of seeding to cultivated forage plants may be war- 

 ranted by the resulting improvement in the forage crop. Over 500 

 seeding tests have been conducted by the Forest Service since 1907 

 in an attempt to determine just what kind of lands can be seeded 

 profitably, the species to use, and the methods which will secure the 

 best results. The information available is largely included in De- 

 partment of Agriculture Bulletin 4. 1 



The results presented in Bulletin 4, as well as the results of investi- 

 gations since it was issued, indicate that the expense of seeding range 

 lands to cultivated species is warranted only on mountain meadows 

 and other areas of minor extent 500 feet or more below true timber line 

 and having favorable soil and moisture conditions. Even on lands of 

 this character, if they already support a stand of native perennial 

 vegetation covering 60 per cent or more of the ground surface, seed- 

 ing to cultivated forage plants will rarely be successful. The soil is 

 in poor condition to receive the seed, and the cultivated forage plants 

 will rarely replace the hardy native vegetation. It is realized that 

 this description will not enable the reader to decide readily whether 

 a given area should be seeded ; but the limitations given will exclude 

 at once dry bunchgrass hillsides, dry timbered or untimbered lands 

 where there is a scanty growth of native grasses, weeds, or shrubs, 

 and other areas where the native vegetation indicates that soil and 

 moisture conditions are unsuitable for all but hardy, drought-resistant 

 native plants. 



Most men having to do with the supervision and use of western 

 range are somewhat familiar with the conditions under which timo- 

 thy, redtop, and the clovers can be grown successfully on farms and 

 ranches. If similar conditions of soil and moisture are found on 

 range lands, and the native vegetation is scant, the advisability of 

 seeding to cultivated plants should be looked into. Not infrequently, 

 however, recommendations for seeding to cultivated forage plants 

 are based upon the fact that timothy, redtop, bluegrass, clover, or 



1 Sampson, Arthur W., The Reseeding of Depleted Grazing Lands to Cultivated Forage 

 Plants, U. S. Department of Agriculture, Bui. 4, 1913. 



