24 STOCK RANGES OF NORTHWESTERN CALIFORNIA. 



California, at Requa, Crescent City, and elsewhere, and it is evident, 

 therefore, that it is not nnsuited to the climatic conditions of the 

 region. 



Tall oat grass, on account of its phenomenally rapid development, 

 is useful as a nurse crop for orchard grass and other species of com- 

 paratively slow growth. Reed fescue, many-flowered millet grass, 

 awnless brome grass, and rescue grass have been grown success- 

 fully at Berkeley- and elsewhere in the State. Red fescue and creep- 

 ing bent are valuable as "bottom grasses," producing a large amount 

 of tender, succulent herbage close to the ground. Italian ray-grass 

 and the red, white, and alsike clovers are extensively cultivated as 

 forage plants in the Eel River Valley. 



THE UPLAND RANGES. 



The most extensive open ranges of the region are found in the 

 interior, on that portion of the plateau lying east of the redwood belt, 

 and on the adjacent mountain slopes. The long ridges into which the 

 plateau has been eroded vary in altitude at their inland end from 

 about 2,000 to 4,000 feet, while the peaks of the ridge forming its 

 eastern boundary attain a height of 8,000 feet in Mount Linn and 

 9,000 feet in Mount Eddy. 



The view from the higher ridges is extensive ; on the western hori- 

 zon lies the ocean as a background. In the foreground ridge after 

 ridge, heavily clothed with timber and' divided by deep, dark canyons, 

 slope gently to the shore line, some 18 miles away. Eastward the 

 eye wanders over bleak grass-coA'ered ridges, brown and dry under a 

 scorching June sun, upward to the peaks of the South Yallo Bolley, 

 35 miles distant, which are about 7,000 feet in height and are still 

 capped with snow in the month of June. At the bottom of deep can- 

 yons glimpses are occasionally caught of the broad bends of Middle 

 Fork of Eel River. 



The summits of the ridges and part of their western slopes are for 

 the most part destitute of trees and brush, but densely clothed with 

 grass. These open slopes form what is known as the open summer 

 or annual range. (See PI. Ill, fig. 1.) 



In very few places is the ground too rocky and the soil too scant and 

 poor to furnish abundance of grass. A few such places occur, how- 

 ever, and are covered with a dense growth of hardy shrubs, forming 

 what is locally known as the "chaparral" or "ehaniisal." (See PL 

 III, fig. 2.) 



The eastern slopes and canyon bottoms are for the most part thickly 

 covered with trees and underbrush — ''browse," as it is called in the 

 vernacular. These areas form the woodland or winter range. 



Temperature. — On account of the altitude and exposure of the 

 plateau its open ridges are subject to a low winter temperature, while 

 in summer the days are intenselv hot and the nights cool. The sum- 



