REPRODUCTION. 29 
REPRODUCTION. 
The common broadleaf trees of the valley type are able to repro- 
duce well, but the general absence of young growth is very striking. 
In many places whefe older trees are abundant, one will look long 
before he finds anything under 2 inches in diameter, or even a 1-year- 
old seedling. The cause of this can be given in a single word—stock. 
The stockman always locates on a stream, if possible, and of course 
includes the stream and its timber in his pasture. The farmer of the 
plains usually has a number of horses and cattle, and his invariable 
rule is to farm his best land and to pasture the rest. Water and shel- 
ter are essential to the stock, and neither ranchman nor farmer thinks 
he can afford to keep his herds from the draws and creeks for the 
sake of the timber that will eventually get a foothold if given the 
opportunity. On thirty-one sample areas, measured in various rep- 
resentative situations in western Kansas, the reproduction can be 
‘alled good in but six mstances, and only fair in six more, while it is 
very poor in the remaining nineteen. AI] of these nineteen areas are 
pastured. Where stock is excluded, it is not uncommon to find hun- 
dreds of small ash, hackberry, and other seedlings, while on the sand 
bars of the Platte and the Arkansas dense stands of young cotton- 
woods often occur. These facts are evidence that unrestricted graz- 
ing limits the reproduction of the trees in the valley type and pre- 
vents its extension. 
Plate V makes this very clear. Figure 1 shows a growth of cotton- 
wood, elm, and shrubs coming in on the Saline River, in Russell 
County, Kans., where stock has been excluded most of the time for 
the past twenty years. Figure 2 is a view on the same stream half 
a mile distant, where not a single shrub is visible. Soil conditions 
are identical in the two situations, and cattle alone are responsible 
for the difference. 
A progressive ranchman living on the Smoky Hill River, who 
appreciates the value of trees and has some thought for the future, 
fenced half a mile of the river bed out of his pasture six years ago. 
Cottonwoods and willows have started under the protection given 
them, and promise to make a good grove. When the trees are large 
enough to withstand the presence of cattle this area will be turned 
back into the pasture and a similar adjoining one fenced out. In 
this way a fair amount of timber will gradually be secured without 
losing the use of much land at any one time. 
The red cedar in the valley type does not suffer from grazing to 
the same extent as the broadleaf. species. Cattle do not eat the 
seedlings, and from the fact that seedlings frequently grow on 
hillsides where they escape trampling, the reproduction is excellent. 
The cedar is a prolific seed bearer, though worms destroy some seeds 
