of the station are very desirous of working in close cooperation with 

 the Division, both in the study of the natural grass flora and in the 

 various cultural problems that are demanding solution. The agri- 

 culturist is expecting soon to take charge of similar work at the 

 Colorado station, and solicits the cooperation of the Division in grass 

 and forage plant work in that State, as well as in Wyoming, par- 

 ticularly along the line of drought-resistant crops and those suitable 

 for alkali soils. 



The forage problems of this State are similar to those of Colorado, 

 Wyoming, and Idaho on the one hand, and of Arizona and New 

 Mexico on the other. The general problem of range improvement 

 is, of course, an important one, as in all of the range States and 

 Territories, but it is modified somewhat in Utah on account of the 

 large amount of sheep ranging that has been practised in recent 

 years. In some sections of the State, notably in the rougher moun- 

 tainous portions about Bear Lake, the competition for range is 

 becoming so strong that the sheep men, instead of depending entirely 

 upon public lands for their forage supply, are buying up or leasing 

 tracts of considerable size and fencing them in to insure forage for 

 their flocks in time of scarcity. These men are beginning to look 

 about for some means of increasing the productiveness of their 

 reserved ranges, and the problem is one that might well engage the 

 attention of the station and the Department as one phase of range 

 improvement. Already the station, through Director Foster, has 

 done considerable work on alkali soils in cooperation with the Depart- 

 ment, and he is desirous of joining with the Division of Agrostology 

 in the investigation of alkali-resistant forage crops. 



IDAHO. 



From the geographical position of this State, the forage problems 

 are much less peculiarly its own than in other of the Northwestern 

 States. In eastern and southern Idaho the problems are essentially 

 the same as those of northern Utah and western Wyoming, while in 

 western Idaho the conditions are practically identical with those of 

 eastern Washington and northeastern Oregon. Over the larger part 

 of the State the problems of most importance are, as already men- 

 tioned for northern Utah, range improvement, drought-resistant for- 

 age crops, and forage crops suitable for alkali soils. As in Utah, 

 the land along the streams is irrigated and, where not too strongly 

 impregnated with alkali, affords good yields of alfalfa and other of 

 the more commonly cultivated crops of the region ; but over a large 

 part of the southeastern section irrigation is either impossible or im- 

 practicable, and here the question of drought-resistant crops is an 



