THE EANGE. 29 



of grass, the side of the gorge and the area immediately to the east 

 being exceptionally fine. There were a good many cattle in the 

 locality, but no sheep had been pastured there this season. In places 

 from Ankle Camp to Nuttersville, a sheep supply camp, there was 

 practically no more feed than on the floor of a corral. We passed 

 two areas at least 2 miles in extent in which even the surface of the 

 ground was reduced to an impalpable powder. PI. IV, fig. 2, taken 

 in the Pine Forest Mountains, shows the condition of the surface of 

 the ground after close pasturing by sheep. This evil effect is most 

 likely to occur in the sagebrush and other shrubby areas, mainly on 

 account of the habits of the sheep. PI. V, figs. 1 and 2, illustrates the 

 point in question. During the morning the animals feed, spreading 

 out over more territory and move about, while during the heat of the 

 day they get as much shelter as possible, hanging their heads in the 

 shade of the shrubbery, if such is available. If not, they bunch up 

 together and use the shade furnished by the bodies of the other animals. 

 They feed and move around but little; on the contrary, remain in nearly 

 the same place, although they keep their feet in almost constant motion. 

 This movement of their feet on the surface of the ground for hours at 

 a time reduces it to a fine powder. The illustration, PI. IV, fig. 2, is 

 from a photograph taken with the camera pointing downward, and 

 covers a space of about 28 by 40 inches. An analysis of this figure, 

 which is typical of the effect of close sheep grazing in all of the 

 shrubby areas, will show two species of plants upon the soil — one is a 

 lupine on the extreme left, the other is sheep fescue (Festuca ovina), 

 two bunches of which are shown, one on the extreme right and the 

 other a little to the left of the upper central portion of the figure. 

 The leaves of the lupine, a plant seldom eaten, are seen scattered over 

 the surface of the ground. The other objects shown are sticks and 

 pebbles. 



The injury to the open grassy areas from overstocking results 

 mainly from too close cropping, which exposes the bunches of roots to 

 the direct rays of the sun, and deprives them of the beneficial action 

 of the accumulation of debris from previous years, both in protection 

 from excessive heat and in holding moisture. On this trip we crossed 

 three areas of this grass, varying in extent from 3 to 60 acres, upon 

 which the beautiful pure growths of sheep fescue were completely 

 ruined. The bunches of great size were completely killed. PI. IV, 

 fig. 1, shows one of these localities. The objects in the foreground 

 are mainly closely cropped bunches of this beautiful grass which under 

 natural conditions stands at a height of from li to 2 feet, and, although 

 in bunches 4 to 10 inches apart, the abundant and graceful culms cover 

 the entire surface. Under ruinous pasturing the bunches appear to 

 die usually from the center. One may often find in these mountains 

 a narrow green ring fringing a dead center. It is a very striking 



