SEMI ARID LANDS. 15 



woolly wheat-grass (Agropyron subvillosum), have become consider- 

 ably more abundant each season. By the season of 1904 these grasses 

 had become so abundant that it seems fair to conclude that if given 

 an opportunity they will in the course of another three or four years 

 make a very good stand. 



Another very strong proof of what can be done in the semiarid 

 region is shown in that part of the open-range lands lying above the 

 Washington Irrigation Company's canal, directly north of Prosser. 

 Although fully as many sheep as ever graze on this land during the 

 winter season, the range is actually improving. This is due to the 

 fact that the range horses have become much less numerous, having 

 been sold to settlers or shipped out of the State. In this way the 

 vegetation has been given an opportunity to reseed itself, and it 

 has also had a chance to make some growth during the summer while 

 the sheep and cattle were in the mountains. 



In the sandy, sagebrush area lying some 15 to 25 miles south of the 

 Great Northern Railway, in Douglass County — commonly known as 

 " the desert " — there are several thousand acres of range land where 

 there is still excellent feed. This consists mainly of needle grass 

 (Stipa comata), Indian millet {Eriocoma cuspidata), and sunflowers 

 {Balsamorrhiza careyana), while bitter brush (Purshia triden- 

 tata) and various species of Eriogonum and Phlox furnish a large 

 quantity of browse. The reason the vegetation in this area remains 

 good while that about it has been very nearly destroyed is due to the 

 great scarcity of water, which renders it almost inaccessible to stock 

 during the hot weather. At the present time horses are the only 

 kind of stock that can graze in this region during the summer 

 months, and even they can only penetrate some 10 or 12 miles at the 

 most, being compelled to go to Avater every day or two. By reason; 

 of this the vegetation has a chance to reach its full growth and to go 

 to seed during the summer season. During the winter months, when 

 stock can go for several days at a time without water, this vegetation 

 is all eaten off, but this comes at a time of year when comparatively 

 little damage is done. 



SEMIARID LANDS. 



The semiarid or true bunch-grass lands can also by judicious man- 

 agement on the part of the owners be brought back to their original 

 state of productiveness. The best method for improving these areas 

 will be to fence them and protect them from all nomadic stock, and 

 give the native grasses a chance to restore themselves. 



The two most important of the native grasses are bunch wheat- 

 grass (Agropyron spicatum) , which grows on the hillsides and 

 plateau lands, and giant rye-grass {Elymus condensatus) , which 

 grows on the bottom lands and on the more or less alkaline situations. 



