RANGE PRESERVATION. 43 



ther, the point at which overstocking commences has not been 

 decisively defined and varies with the individual range. What, then, 

 can the stockman or range owner do to improve his condition? He 

 may Avell say that the range is run for the sake of the stock that can 

 be raised on it and not for the sake of preserving the feed, and that 

 though stock may be the cause of range deterioration they can not be 

 eliminated from the problem. 



The task is only just begun, however, and the problem can not be 

 solved immediately. In the following pages some suggestions are 

 offered which it is hoped will prove steps toward the desired end. 



RANGE PRESERVATION. 



it is important to reiterate that if range renewal or improvement is 

 to be accomplished, the practice of carrying the maximum number of 

 stock on the range, or, in other words, of overstocking, must be aban- 

 doned. It is believed that it is possible to permanently raise the 

 optimum carrying capacity, but it is impossible to do so while heavy 

 stocking is practiced. 



Success on one range, as compared with failure on an adjoining one, 

 is not due to any difference in location or other range conditions, nor 

 to anj T differences in the grasses or other plants composing the pas- 

 ture: the natural conditions generally are, or have been, identical 

 with those of adjacent and less-productive ranges. The secret lies in 

 good management, and good management primarily consists in carry- 

 ing the optimum number of stock and allowing plenty of grass to go 

 to seed — to go to waste, as the majority of stockmen would call it. 



Mr. J. H. Clarke and Colonel Harding, both successful stock 

 ranchers on a large scale, are agreed in declaring that over thirty 

 years of experience j) roves that this surplus grass, instead of being 

 wasted, is equivalent to so much capital invested in the range, and is 

 the cause of the prosperity of the few as compared with the failure or 

 poverty of the many. Such men do not stock nearly up to the maxi- 

 mum. Owning their own ranges, and therefore not having to pay 

 exorbitant interest on the capital invested, the} 7 are content with the 

 profits obtainable from the optimum number of stock. As a result of 

 this, they not only maintain a uniform carrying capacity without 

 deterioration, but gain in other ways. Their wool is always cleaner 

 and commands a half a cent a pound more than that of their neigh- 

 bors, and both their mutton sheep and their lambs command a higher 

 price. "We aim," writes Mr. Clarke, "to keep no more stock than 

 the range will easily support. Better a superabundance of feed than 

 a scarcity." The amount of grass to be left to seed and the optimum 

 carrying capacity can be determined only by actual experience. Both 

 Colonel Harding and Mr. Clarke find, however, that about 8 acres 

 to a head of horned stock and 1^ acres to a sheep are all that their 

 ranges can carry without injury. 



