16 RANGE IMPROVEMENT IN CENTRAL TEXAS. 
cattle in a large pasture which at that time included this particular 
640-acre tract, is authority for the statement, made by him to his asso- 
ciate inspectors, that when he first knew it, in the seventies, its capac- 
ity for supporting cattle was quite 160 head of mixed cattle to the 
section of 640 acres, including the hills mentioned. He explained that 
the large difference between its present and its former condition was 
due to the fact that, in common with all the other range lands of the 
section, it had for years been overstocked. Prior to the date of its 
purchase by Mr. Merchant, only a short time before 1898, it had first 
been part of the open range in which everybody’s cattle roamed at 
will, and later had been held under lease; and in each case the cattle 
roaming on it had been permitted to graze it closely. This was the 
situation, say, April 1, 1898, and the problem to be solved was: ‘‘Is 
it practicable, as the result of carefully planned, systematic work, to 
take this land, which once had four times its present capacity for 
sustaining stock, and restore it to its original value as a pasture?” 
SEEDING THE GROUND. 
Before Professor Smith left he personally superintended the experi- 
mental work as planned to be done on pasture No. 9. He had several 
acres sowed, without disturbing the surface, to the seeds of quite a 
variety of grasses and forage plants, including several of the weeds 
recognized by stockmen as having definite value as early stock feed. 
He also made an effort to get a stand of Texas blue grass and curly 
mesquite by transplanting fragments of sod to the bare spots, but on 
account of the dry weather that followed practically none of the seed 
sown germinated, and all of the sods put in the ground died. He also 
had the 10-acre garden tract broken, but necessarily, it being sod 
land, the breaking was shallow—only deep enough to turn under the 
sod. -On this tract he sowed broadcast seeds of many varieties of 
grasses and several varieties of alfalfa, and later several varieties of 
cowpeas and velvet beans. 3 
A shower following these sowings, some of the seeds germinated, 
but after a brief effort to exist only the alfalfa, cowpeas, and teosinte 
survived the distressing shortage in rainfall that followed. The pre- 
cipitation during April, 1898, was much below normal, being only 
1.78 inches, and the maximum temperature was 92°, much above nor- 
mal. There were only 2.60 inches of rainfall during May, and the 
temperature for the month was abnormally great, the maximum being 
101°. During June the precipitation was satisfactory, being 4.55 
inches, but it came too late to save the garden work. In July the 
temperature went to 102°, and the rainfall fell off to 1.46 inches. 
During the next month the weather continued favorable, the rainfall 
being 1.94 inches, the temperature ranging between 81° and 98°. 
September promised more satisfactory weather, but while the rain- 
