22 RANGE MANAGEMENT IN THE STATE OF WASHINGTON. 



carry, being very sure not to overestimate, which he is almost certain 

 to do. In making this estimate he must not base it on the maxi- 

 mum number of stock, i. e., all the stock that the pasture will carry 

 and bring through in good condition without reference to the condi- 

 tion in which the pasture is left at the end of the season, but an opti- 

 mum number. An optimum number of stock is that number which 

 the pasture will carry and bring through in good condition at the 

 end of the season, and still be left in condition to carry the same 

 stock another year, and so on indefinitely. This means that the stock- 

 man must make a careful study of his range, and be ready to revise 

 his estimates whenever he sees that it is necessary to do so. By far 

 the safest plan will be to pasture somewhat under the optimum num- 

 ber, and thus be prepared for a mistake in the estimate or for an 

 unusually dry year. In case the range is badly deteriorated when 

 the stockman first gets control, it will be absolutely necessary that it 

 be pastured considerably under the optimum number if he wishes his 

 range to improve. While this may perhaps be a severe strain on him 

 for the first year or two, it is nevertheless the only solution. In many 

 instances he may be able to take advantage of the outside range while 

 his pastures are improving. 



Plate III, figures 1 and 2, shows very plainly the difference between 

 maximum and optimum grazing. The pasture shown in figure 1 is 

 very badly depleted and very little vegetation remains except June 

 grass (Poa sandbergii) and weeds. This pasture, instead of being 

 given a chance to revive, has been grazed to its highest carrying 

 capacity each year, with the result that it is gradually deteriorating. 

 The pasture shown in figure 2 belongs to the neighboring range. Its 

 owner, instead of trying to get all out of his range that he possibly 

 can from year to year, has, by using an optimum number of stock, 

 given it a chance to improve. At the p resent time the carrying 

 capacity of his range is at least double that of the pasture shown in 

 figure 1. 



Mr. Joseph Burtt Davy, in his report on the stock ranges in Cali- 

 fornia, where the same range conditions have been passed through as 

 are going on in Washington, says : 



Success on one range, as compared with failure on an adjoining one, is not 

 due to any difference in location or other range conditions, nor to any difference 

 in the grasses or other plants composing the pasture ; the natural conditions 

 generally are, or have been, identical with those of adjacent and less productive 

 ranges. The secret lies in good management, and good management primarily 

 consists in carrying the optimum number of stock and allowing plenty of grass 

 to go to seed — to go to waste, as the majority of stockmen would call it. 



Mr. J. H. Clarke and Colonel Harding, both successful stock ranchers on a 

 large scale, are agreed in declnring that over thirty years of experience proves 

 that this surplus grass, instead of being wasted, is equivalent to so much 

 capital invested in the range, and is the cause of the prosperity of the few as 



