6S RANGE IMPROVEMENT IN CENTRAL TEXAS. 
SALTBUSHES (Afriplez). 
The several tests made of this forage plant in the station garden 
have been entirely satisfactory. Seeds of several varieties were planted 
March 16 and April 18, 1899, but only a few of them germinated. 
Of Nelson’s saltbush (Atriplex pabularis) and of Nuttall’s saltbush 
(A. nuttalliz) a few plants each were secured. About a dozen weak 
plants of the shad scale (A. canescens) started, but they soon died. Of 
all the varieties tested, the annual saltbush from Australia (4. holo- 
carpa) gave the best results. The growth was not large, being only 
from 12 to 24 inches high, but the seed development was surpris- 
ingly great. Seeds of all the varieties named, except the shad scale, 
formed and matured through the long and hot summer; not a few, 
but thousands of them. Twicein July and August the seeds were care- 
fully stripped from the plants, but as fast as the earlier seeds were 
gathered others grew and developed, ripened, and fell off, covering 
the ground under each bush. The plants continued green until early 
in December, but by the 15th of the month, as the result of some 
rather severe frosts and freezes, they were nearly all.dead. In 1900, 
each of the above-named varieties was again tested and the tests 
confirmed in the mind of the writer the opinions formed of them 
the season before. Seeds of the Australian saltbush (Atriplex 
semibaccata) were received from the Division of Agrostology and were 
sown both in March and April. The previous year the seeds had been 
planted rather deep, and it is believed that the thin stands were in 
consequence thereof. In 1900 the seeds of the variety under special 
consideration were sown in shallow drills and were lightly covered. 
An excellent stand was the result, and the plants were vigorous from 
the start. As this is a procumbent or prostrate variety, it will be bet- 
ter to refer to its vines, rather than to its plants. They spread out 
in every direction from the crowns of the roots, from 2 to 4 feet, and 
produced an abundant leafage anda large number of seeds. Specimen 
plants, the roots of which were about 2 feet long and the stems nearly 
4 feet long, were sent to the Agrostologist. During the long, hot, 
and dry spells of that year all of the varieties named showed excellent 
drought resistant properties, but the Autralian saltbush particularly 
held its own most tenaciously. The Australian saltbush is known to 
be an excellent plant for soiling sheep, and sheep dealers in California 
use it a great deal in that way. It is stated on excellent authority that 
it develops better on alkali than on other soils; hence stockmen and 
farmers in the Pecos Valley country, where the soil is strongly impreg- 
nated with soda salts, will do well to test it fully. The recommen- 
dation is also made to those in other sections of Texas to sow fields to 
it, as on the ordinary soils it is reasonably certain to produce satis- 
factory results. 
