18 KANGE IMPROVEMENT IN ARIZONA. 



very seldom thatr one encounters a plant over 2 or 3 feet high on the 

 open range, while in protected places bnshes 10 feet high may often 

 be seen. Large areas of a luxuriant growth of these plants were 

 formerly found along the Santa Cruz River, where now only short 

 stumpj^ growths 10 or 12 inches high are to be found. It is on the 

 plains to the westward and in the Gila and Salt River valleys, how- 

 ever, that these plants grow in the greatest profusion. Here, as the 

 writer's observation goes, they are but slightly injured by grazing. 

 This appears especially true in the vicinity of Tempe. In one locality 

 on the Gila, however, as well as at Tombstone, in the San Pedro Val- 

 lej", close cropping of shad scale was the rule. 



The propagation of the native species of Atriplex has been attended 

 with considerable difficult}', but some plantings made on the range 

 in January have proven xavj successful. In the case of shad scale, 

 which appears to be the most promising of any of the native spe- 

 cies, the seed collected by various field agents of the Division in the 

 Northwest have usually failed to germinate. This was also the case 

 with seed collected in Arizona early in September of 1900. The 

 same material collected a month later germinated readily. The dif- 

 ference could not be one of local conditions or difference of treat- 

 ment, because these conditions were identical and the same results 

 were obtained on the range and in germination tests in the green- 

 house. A favorable time for collecting seed of the native species 

 which occur in this region is late October to January. It will prob- 

 ably grow just as well if collected in late October as at an}^ other time, 

 but gathering can be done to better advantage later in the season, 

 because the seeds strip off more readily and require less drying — cir- 

 cumstances of considerable importance to the seed collector. In the 

 moister alkaline regions the greasewood {Sarcobatus vermiculafus) is 

 often found in abundance, but observation indicates that it is not 

 browsed as much as one would expect. It is certainly a much inferior 

 food to the saltbush. Winter fat {Eurotia Janata), on the contrary, 

 appears to be nearl}^ exterminated on the open range. Two or three 

 bushels of seed could have been gathered on the railroad right of way 

 between Dragoon and Cochise in October, but on the open range only 

 two or three closely cropped bushes were to be found. This is the 

 only place in which the plant has been collected. 



NATIVE LEGUMES. 



The most important plant among the legumes is the mesquit {Pro- 

 sopis velutina Wooton? ^). The screw bean (P. puhescens) is also com- 

 mon, but it never grows in such profusion as the other closely related 



^ The prevailing species in southern Arizona has been referred to P. juliflora. 

 It is not, however, the same plant that is referred to this species in Texas and the 

 greater part of New Mexico. The Arizona plant corresponds closely in everything 

 but fruit characters to P. puhescens. 



