PREFACE. 



This report entitled Stock Ranges of Northwestern California: 

 Notes on the Grasses and Forage Plants and Range Conditions, was 

 prepared under my direction by Mr. Joseph Burtt Davy, assistant 

 botanist of the Agricultural Experiment Station of the University of 

 California. Mr. Davy, under commission from the United States 

 Department of Agriculture, through this Office, dated March 24, 1900, 

 made a very thorough investigation of the grasses and forage plants 

 of northwestern California, a region whose forage resources have not 

 heretofore been carefully studied. The report contains a compre- 

 hensive account of the whole region, its physiographic and climatic 

 conditions, and all the features bearing upon the forage problem. 

 The information it contains will be of use to ranchmen and dairymen 

 and all those interested in the stock industry, and will be found of 

 special value to those living within the region which it covers. In 

 addition to the presentation of this report, Mr. Davy collected a large 

 and valuable series of specimens of the native grasses and other plants 

 which supply more or less grazing, and a set of these specimens has 

 been added to the collections of the Office. 



Mr. Davy wishes to express here his sincere thanks to Dr. Walter 

 C. Blasdale for invaluable assistance rendered in the collection and 

 preparation of specimens, for taking and preparing the photographs 

 which illustrate this report, and for help in many other ways. With- 

 out this assistance the investigation could not have been successfully 

 accomplished. 



F. Lamson-Scribner, 



Agrostologist. 



Office of the Agrostologist, 



Washington, D. C, November 25, 1901, 



