MOUNTAIN GRAZING AREAS. 17 



present time taking its place in those areas where overgrazing is going 

 on. Experiments to determine this point will be made during 1905. 

 The same thing can be done with the giant rye-grass. At the present 

 time the seed of these grasses can not be purchased, but usually it 

 would not be difficult to gather it. This can be done by heading the 

 grasses with a sickle and putting the heads in a sack, or, if a large 

 quantity is desired, there is no reason why the bunch-grass could 

 not be gathered with a header and thrashed out with a flail. A 

 thrashing machine could be used instead of a flail if the wind were 

 shut off. The giant rye-grass could easily be gathered by using a 

 self-binder. 



In the foothills region lying between the semiarid grazing lands 

 and the mountain meadows there are large areas of scab land (land 

 Avhere the soil is very thin and gravelly and full of stones) , especially 

 on the hilltops (see PI. II, fig. 1). In these regions the grasses have 

 been almost completely destroyed, and the prevailing vegetation now 

 consists of scab-land sagebrush {Artemisia rigida), mountain sage- 

 brush (A. arbuscula), bitter brush {Purshia tridentata), and vari- 

 ous species of Eriogonum, all of which furnish considerable broAvse. 

 Under proper management the grasses here will eventually restore 

 themselves, but the process will take a long time, in some instances 

 probably ten to fifteen years. The restoration may be hastened by 

 scattering bunch wheat-grass seed, but it is, perhaps, a question 

 whether the process of restoration will not cost more than the original 

 value of the land. 



MOUNTAIN GRAZING AREAS. 



The mountain grazing areas, or summer pastures, are at the present 

 time very important factors. in the range problem of the State. With 

 the large quantities of hay that can be raised in the irrigated valleys 

 for ay inter feeding, the number of range stock that the State can sup- 

 port is — except in the Okanogan country, Avhere the quantity of hay 

 raised is limited — directly dependent upon the number of stock that 

 these summer pastures will carry. 



Fortunately, the restoration of the mountain grazing areas will not 

 be at all difficult. Here the annual precipitation is ample to support 

 an abundant A T egetation, which, if giA^en an opportunity, Avill soon 

 grow up again. While in many of the mountain areas the vegetation 

 has been badly cleaned out by sheep, the most serious damage has 

 been caused by stock tramping on the land too early in the season, 

 which has resulted in the ground becoming badly packed. In the true 

 mountain meadows (see PI. II, fig. 2), Avhere mountain clover (Trifo- 

 Jium longipes) , mountain timothy (Phleum alpinum), and A r arious 

 sedges and rushes comprise the A 7 egetation, there is still an abundance 



