24 
tances without losing much in weight. A good packer or herder, 
where feed is plenty, selects the feeding grounds with these conditions 
in view, and always puts his sheep in condition for long drives, 
usually giving them light feed in the early part of the summer and 
hardening them toward the close of the season. In general, weeds 
and swamp grasses are light feed, while the dry-ground bunch grasses, 
chamise, and acorns are strong feed. Light feed is more abundant in 
spring, strong feed in the autumn. Light feed is made up chiefly of 
succulent vegetation containing a preponderance of freshly developed 
nitrogenous matter; strong feed, of vegetation containing a preponder- 
ance of substances, particularly starch and other carbohydrates, fully 
elaborated for storage purposes in the plant. Light feed is comparable 
with green fodder, strong feed with grain. 
Sheep when driven by hunger will eat almost any green or even dead 
vevetation, but it is rarely that they reach such a condition in the Cas- 
cade reserve. AS arule,they are discriminating in their choice of forage 
from the vegetation over which they range. The following are the 
plants to which, from their abundance or general suitability, attention 
was more particularly drawn: 
Bear grass (Xerophyllum tenax).—The young stems and even the seed 
pods of this plant are readily eaten by sheep, but the tough leaves are 
seldom touched, and their rough margins make the mouths of the sheep 
sore. It was not seen south of Mount Washington. 
Bluejoint grass (Calamagrostis inexpansa cuprea').—This is one of 
the principal grazing plants for sheep in Salmon Prairie. It grows 
frequently in other similar situations. : 
Butterweed (Senecio triangularis).—An abundant plant in meadows 
and along streams. Sheep are very fond of it. 
Clover (Trifolium longipes).—A favorite forage plant of sheep in and 
about the meadows. Several other species of clover occur. 
Dwarf birch (Betula glandulosa).--Sheep browse upon this shrub as 
high as they can reach, often when the plants are smail eating them to 
the ground, and sometimes killing them. It grows in meadows at mid- 
dle elevations. 
False hellebore (Veratrum viride).—This, popularly known as “ wild 
Indian corn,” is a plant of which sheep are extremely fond, particularly 
in spring, when the young shoots and leaves first appear. The roots of 
this plant are poisonous, but no cases of poisoning from this source 
were met with. It is usually found in the meadows. 
Tireweed (Chamaenerion angustifolium).—A common plant in burns, 
both in the west-slope forests and the lodgepole pine forests of the 
eastern slopes. When young, it is a favorite food of sheep. 
Huckleberry (Vaccinium membranaceum).—Sheep browse readily on 
the leaves and twigs of this kind of huckleberry, one of the tallest and 
most abundant species. It is very abundant on the south slope of 
Mount Hood and in the various other localities frequented by huckle- 
'The grasses have been identified by Professor F. Lamson-Scribner. 
