52 FORAGE CONDITIONS ON NORTHERN BORDER OP GREAT BASIN, 



and Quinn River bottoms. PL XIV, fig. 2, shows a characteristic growth of it on the 

 Humboldt bottoms near "Winnemucca. The picture was taken from a closely cropped 

 pasture of the same grass. 



Canadian rye grass (Elymus canadensis). — Common and furnishing a great deal 

 of pasture in the edges of thickets and along streams, especially to the northward. 



Early bunch grass (Eatonia obtusata). — A valuable species wherever found, but 

 its quantity is rather limited on these bottoms. 



Indian millet (Eriocoma cuspidata). — A low bunch grass with white, w T oolly 

 spikelets and very divergent and usually crooked, irregular panicle branches. It 

 inhabits sandy areas skirting the river bottoms and requires a loose, porous soil for 

 its best development. It was much more abundant in former times than it is now. 

 The readiness with which it is eaten and the loose soil in which it grows render it 

 very susceptible to injury from overstocking. It was pointed out to us on several 

 occasions as having been a very valuable grass at one time, but now it is of little 

 importance. 



Creeping eragrostis (Eragrostis hypnoides). — A prostrate, creeping annual which 

 furnishes some pasture in low, wet places. 



Slender fescue (Festuca octoflord) .—A small, short-leaved, annual grass which 

 grows early in the spring, and, after maturing a large crop of seed, dies with the 

 approach of dry weather. The species is to this region what the six weeks grass 

 (Bouteloua aristidoides) is to the Arizona deserts. The latter, however, grows in July 

 and August instead of in the spring. It is common all over the mesa region between 

 the lowland and the higher foothills and doubtless furnishes much feed early in the 

 season. It is usually considered of practically no value. We found it especially 

 abundant in the lower foothills in southern Oregon. 



Sheep fescue (Festuca ovina). — Reference has been made to this valuable moun- 

 tain species in several places on previous pages. As a pasture grass it is one of the 

 most important of the native species. It is certainly surpassed by none in either 

 the quality or quantity of feed produced, unless it be Buckley's blue grass. It 

 has, in this region, two well-marked and distinct forms which are as different in 

 their habits as in their general appearance in the field. One, which is entirely 

 smooth, occupies the areas of the mountains situated between the upper foothills and 

 the higher elevations. In the lower portion of this area it is mixed with Buckley's 

 blue grass, but higher up there are large areas upon which practically no other 

 grasses grow. The other, growing on the highest elevations, is the typical glaucus 

 form of the Rocky Mountain region. Magnificent areas of this form were seen in the 

 vicinity of Bartlett Peak and in the Pine Forest Mountains. In the former locality 

 there were stretches on the top of the mountains above the snowdrifts a mile in 

 extent where there was practically no other grass. Only two small areas were found 

 which had not been pastured. 



Cut grass (Homalocenchrus oryzoides). — This is common on ditch banks and along 

 streams from the Malheur Lake region north. It was not collected south of this 

 point. It is pastured somewhat, but can not be considered of much value. 



Squirrel tail grass (Hordeum jubatum) . — Usually this species is considered a vile 

 weed and is a great detriment to many native hay meadows of this region. But 

 while this is true, it also furnishes a large quantity of excellent pasture in many 

 regions. On the Malheur Lake bottoms there are thousands of acres where almost 

 no other grass grows. On the open range it was invariably cropped close to the 

 ground. An occasional fenced area showed wonderful stands of it. One field seen 

 would certainly have cut a ton of this grass to the acre. The analysis of the soil 

 samples taken from this region shows that it develops to the best advantage on soils 

 which do not contain alkali in quantities injurious to cultivated crops; it is certainly 

 neither so hard nor so compact as the soil in the surrounding and contiguous areas 

 where salt grass abounds. 



