ClBCULAB NO. 9. (Agl' 



United States Department of Agriculture, 



OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY. 



U. S. Department of Agriculture, 



Washington, D. C, December 10, 1900. 



Sir: According to the provisions of the act of Congress, making appropria- 

 tions for the Department of Agriculture for the fiscal year 1901, this Division 

 was directed to purchase and collect seeds and specimens of valuable economic 

 grasses and forage plants, to be distributed to the various experiment stations 

 under the direction of the Secretary of Agriculture, to ascertain their adapta- 

 bility to the various soils and climates of the United States. 



In order to carry out this direction, plans were made early in the season to 

 undertake the work with the beginning of the fiscal year. Mr. C. L. Shear, an 

 assistant in the Division, was put in charge of the seed and field work, and im- 

 mediately after July 1 he began work in the field, and several special agents 

 were employed to work with him during the collecting season. He was verbally 

 instructed to make the collection of seeds of valuable native grasses and forage 

 plants the leading feature of his field work. 



There are many native grasses and forage plants of great economic value that 

 have never yet been introduced into cultivation. This is especially true of the 

 grasses of the great cattle ranges of the West, which formerly grew in such 

 abundance and which through overstocking and mismanagement have now 

 become almost extinct. In the propagation and cultivation of these species, 

 native to the soil and already acclimated, lies the hope of the ranchman and the 

 herder for restoring to their former carrying capacity the now depleted ranges 

 and pastures. Particular effort has been directed to securing in quantity seedfl 

 of these wild range grasses; also those of probable value in the South for winter 

 pasturage, those likely to prove good meadow grasses for high altitudes and those 

 especially adapted to binding shifting sands, for which there is so much demand. 



Seeds of a few native grasses of highly economic importance have been obtained 

 by purchase from parties living in the remote regions where they grow. A num- 

 ber of varieties were obtained in this way from the vicinity of Silver City, New 

 Mexico In all this work it not infrequently happened that long and tedious 

 journeys had to be made to regions inaccessible to stock before grasses in seed 

 could be found, and the collection was made by hand. Some four tons oi seed 

 of about one hundred and thirty varieties of grasses and forage plants were thus 

 gathered, the quantities in each case varying from one to five hundred pounds. 

 Never before has so large an amount of native seeds been collected by the Depart- 

 ment. The results of the season's work of the Division in this direction are pre 

 sented in Mr. C. L. Shear's report, which is submitted herewith for publication. 

 Respectfully, 



F. L \Ms,»\ S< EUBNBR, 



Agrostologist. 

 Hon. James Wilson. 



Secretary of Agriculture. 



