3o4 FORAGE CONDITIONS AND PROBLEMS. 
Warner mountains, as well as in the Okanogan region and the irri- 
gated communities of ENensburg, North Yakima, and Lovelock, Nev. 
It is a common practice in the irrigated localities, when alfalfa fields 
have become thin owing to the length of their establishment, lack of 
care, overirrigation, or accumulation of alkali, to sow barley or wheat, 
either in drills or broadcast, early in the spring. This answers sey- 
eral beneficial purposes. The first crop of hay cut is greatly increased, 
the fields are in much better tilth, and a more perfect soil cover is 
secured early in the season, preventing a rapid evaporation from the 
soil during the spring and consequently decreasing the soluble salt 
content of the surface layers. It is said that this crop does not act 
injuriously on the alfalfa. It is a common practice also to scatter 
alfalfa seed in the meadows at the same time. This kind of a mixture 
makes excellent hay, and nearly doubles the quantity secured at the 
first cutting. 
CHEAT. 
Cheat“ and grain (wheat, barley, and rye) are the main hay crops in 
the Blue Mountains of Oregon. The majority of the ranchers spoken 
with consider cheat superior to grain hay as feed for cattle and sheep. 
A few fields were seen in Washington, but it is not by any means so 
common there. It is not considered as good feed as timothy and red- 
top, but it makes a better yield on higher and drier areas than these 
crops. Nearly all ranchers in the Blue Mountains make a distinction 
between cultivated cheat and what they call wild cheat, which is 
described as the short-awned brome (Sromus marginatus) in the 
publications of the United States Department of Agriculture. 
ROOT CROPS. 
aN 
Some sheep men on the north slope of the Blue Mountains are 
beginning to raise considerable quantities of mangel-wurzels, beets, 
and carrots for the winter feeding of sheep. Messrs. J. E. Smith & 
Sons, who haye the largest sheep interests in this area. report good 
success in their experiments in this direction. They are obliged at 
the present time to feed their sheep thirty to fifty days, as compared 
with ten days or two weeks years ago, when there was more open 
range. Thus far they have produced crops er this nature for onlf¥ a 
limited number of their flocks, and these are fed mainly during the 
lambing season. The roots are chopped with a machine and fed with 
no further preparation. They consider these crops very profitable 
for this purpose. It is quite probable that ruta-bagas could be profit- 
ably added to this list. 
« The species grown here appears to belong to Bromus racemosus rather than Bro- 
mus secalinus, under which name it is handled by seedsmen. 
wit Te 
