nutritious forage plants on forest ranges, especially for summer-fall 

 grazing. Work has been going on this project since 1945.^/ 



The problem is complicated by the fact that most of the land is 

 better suited to growing timber than to other uses. Cultivation of the 

 forest land and investment in forage improvement must therefore be 

 limited. A happy solution would be to find forage plants that meet these 

 requirem ents : 



Are nutritious in summer and fall or in winter. 



Can be established on forest range with little soil disturbance 



and fertilization. 

 Will grow successfully in competition with native grasses 



under moderately intense grazing. 



Testing common pasture plants on forest range . - -Studies were 

 started in 1945 to find a practical way to establish three common 

 pasture plants on forest land- -carpetgras s, Dallisgrass, and common 

 lespedeza. 



Applying 200 pounds of calcium metaphosphate and broadcasting 

 3 pounds of carpetgrass seed per acre on recently burned range in 

 March 1945, followed by close grazing, produced a carpetgrass sod 

 that has stood up under heavy usage for more than 6 years. In fact, 

 cattle kept the sod so closely cropped that the seeded strips have served 

 as firebreaks. 



Common lespedeza required about the same treatment as carpet- 

 grass. However, it did grow in a light stand for 3 years when seeded on 

 a range that was fertilized but not burned or cultivated. Dallisgrass 

 could not be established successfully without rather complete cultivation 

 and fertilization. In general, carpetgrass and lespedeza persisted only 

 under close grazing that prevented the growth of native grasses and the 

 establishment of pine seedlings. 



Since calcium metaphosphate is not available commercially in 

 this area, if was not used in any other range improvement studies. 

 Basic slag is proving to be as good as calcium metaphosphate. 



2/ In January 1954, funds and manpower for the work in range reseeding 

 were transferred to the Agricultural Research Service, U. S. Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture. The ARS is continuing this work in close cooper- 

 ation with the Alexandria Research Center. 



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