SYSTEM OF RANGE ROTATION AND MANAGEMENT. 83 



On the plateau, where the greatest elevation does not exceed 4,000 

 feet and but little snow falls- in winter and none remains into the sum- 

 mer, the grasses mature early, and there are no late alpine meadows. 



SYSTEM OF RANGE ROTATION AND MANAGEMENT. 



In California the season of activity in plant growth commences 

 with the early autumn rains (September and October), while the heat 

 rays still have power to warm the soil below the surface. It is then 

 that the seeds of annual plants, dormant since the time of ripening in 

 early summer, commence to germinate and the seedlings to establish 

 themselves in the loosening soil. 



Though they germinate so early in the season these annuals do not 

 make much upward growth until the advent of the warm spring days 

 during February or early March, after which their progress to maturity 

 is usually rapid. By April-May or May-June, according to the season, 

 they have attained their maximum growth and begin to ripen or are 

 at least flowering. 



The flowering season is short, and with the arrival of the hot, dry, 

 north winds in June or July the open hillsides rapidly assume that 

 brown and barren aspect so characteristic of a California summer. 



During the fall and early winter months, when the "bands " of cattle 

 and sheep have been reduced by summer sales of fat stock, it is cus- 

 tomary, on ranges under the best management, to confine the stock to 

 the woodland or winter range. This method gives the seedling annual 

 grasses and clovers, which furnish most of the forage on the summer 

 rarge, a chance to get well anchored in the soil and fairly established; 

 otherwise, on account of their shallow rooting, a large proportion 

 would be destroyed by trampling or pulling. 



As soon as feed is sufficiently plentiful the "bands " are permitted to 

 return to the summer range. With the advent of the dry season the 

 animals are usually ready for market and stockmen begin to thin out 

 their flocks and herds. A general exodus soon commences, the mar- 

 ketable animals being driven to Ukiah or Eureka for shipment to San 

 Francisco. 



With this exodus of sheep and cattle summer travel over the stage 

 road from Ukiah to Eureka becomes more than ever unpleasant. The 

 roadsides which a short time previous were carpeted with grasses and 

 wild flowers are quickly stripped of every blade of green, and the 

 roads, hitherto fairly good, become thick with dust, which is thrown 

 up in clouds by the numerous droves of animals passing each day. 



The reserve "bands," now much reduced in size, continue to find 

 subsistence, and even keep fat for some time, on the ripening heads of 

 soft chess and other forage plants which are now dried into a stand- 

 ing crop of short hay. This cured hay is considered highly nutri- 

 tious until it has been washed by the early rains, when it seems to 

 lose its palatableness. 



18766— No. 12—02 3 



