42 BULLETIN 1405, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



WHY GRASSES ARE SUPERIOR AS FORAGE PLANTS 



Grasses generally constitute forage of the first quality on range 

 and pasture. The particular habit of growth of grass herbage, its 

 high nutritive value for all classes of foraging animals, its com- 

 parative permanence and slight variation in yield from year to year, 

 make it more desirable for pasture purposes than any other great 

 class of plants. 



The active growing region of the grass blade is at the base ; hence 

 the production of herbage is not checked by grazing, provided the 

 plant is_physiologically strong. The growth of the leafage of such 

 plants as geranium, mertensia, and snowberry, on the other hand, 

 is uniform throughout the entire leaf, and therefore the total con- 

 sumption of their leafage by grazing practically arrests further 

 development of the leaves eaten. Perennial grasses as a whole are 

 found to hold the climax place successionally in herbaceous vegeta- 

 tion, so that the grass type is much more stable than is that of other 

 herbs. Therefore, if appreciable and permanent improvement in the 

 grazing capacity of the range is to be obtained, it must come in 

 large measure through the grasses. 



Tests with tall larkspur and certain other poisonous species have 

 brought out the fact that they can be killed out on the range if cut 

 closely when about 6 inches high, twice in the first season of treat- 

 ment and once in each of the two following years. Some of the 

 palatable herbaceous species are quite as readily destroyed by close 

 cropping. Perennial grasses, however, ordinarily hold up well under 

 the treatment which eradicates larkspur. 



RANGE RESEEDING 



Occasionally a long-used grazing area supports little vegetation 

 of value to livestock. On the steeper, poorly vegetated hillsides 

 erosion may be leaching out and transporting to lower levels the 

 soluble salts and organic acids essential to the establishment of an 

 effective plant cover. Moreover, because of the small quantity of 

 humus on the range, the soil packs heavily, especially if animals are 

 admitted during wet weather, which decreases still more the water- 

 holding capacity of the soil and the ability of the range to 

 revegetate. 



A large proportion of the depleted mountain meadows and well- 

 drained parks at high elevations, where the plant cover has declined 

 in recent years, have fertile soils capable of supporting a good stand 

 of vegetation and usually have sufficient soil moisture. The possi- 

 bility of successful reseeding to valuable cultivated and native species 

 is considerably greater for such areas than for the drier lands lying 

 at lower elevations (PL IV). Attempts to reseed artificially the 

 plains and the drier foothills to cultivated forage plants have given 

 results of no practical value. In view of the none too promising 

 results obtained from the artificial reseeding of range lands, coupled 

 with the high cost, any far-sighted stockman will take the necessary 

 precautions to keep his range in good, vigorous productive con- 

 dition, and certainly will not allow it to deteriorate beyond a stage 

 where it can readily be brought back by natural revegetation. 



