RANGE IMPROVEMENT BY DEFERRED GRAZING. 13 
some localities the stand more than doubled in some seasons, though 
the forage was grazed each year. Grazing thins the seedling stand, 
of course, even when confined to the autumn, but in the latter case 
destruction is not nearly as great as when the lands are cropped 
before the seedling roots are developed. Moderate autumn grazing 
on lands at medium elevations resulted in an average loss in seedlings 
of 51.9 per cent. On the higher ranges 56.7 per cent of the seedlings 
which had survived the drought period were destroyed by sheep. 
This loss is largely offset, however, by the planting of another seed* 
crop, from which a stand of seedlings is produced the following 
year. In view of this and of the urgent need for feed in the autumn, 
the loss of seedlings due to grazing can not be considered serious 
enough to justify closing the range. 
The seedlings are not subject to loss by moderate autumn grazing 
after the first season of growth, since the root system is then so well 
developed that the plants are not pulled up by cropping or seriously 
injured by trampling. 
To sum up the advantages of deferred grazing over yearlong graz- 
ing and season-long protection: (1) It restores and maintains the 
vegetation without the loss of the forage crop in any year; (2) it 
insures the seed being planted, thereby overcoming the chief disad- 
vantage of yearlong protection; (3) it does away with the fire danger 
resulting from the accumulation of inflammable material under year- 
long protection. 
In addition, if overstocking and bad management are guarded 
against, there will be no material injury to forest reproduction or the 
cover on watersheds. 
APPLICATION OF DEFERRED GRAZING TO RANGE MANAGEMENT. 
Deferred grazing can be applied on any range where the forage 
is palatable and nutritious after seed maturity, and where water is 
available for stock. The food value of the herbage of most species 
in the autumn is relatively high. The herbage of grasses and grass- 
like plants after seed maturity is somewhat better preserved* than 
that of certain succulent weed species, whose leaves may either be 
dropped or partly decomposed. Consequently, grass lands need not 
be grazed as promptly after the seed matures as weed areas. The 
weed type of vegetation, however, matures its seed earlier than 
grasses and grasslike plants, and so offers an exceptional opportunity 
for deferred grazing. 
Of course, the herbage can not be used unless there is an adequate 
supply of water for the stock. Water facilities may be developed 
on many ranges by the construction of dams, by the protection and 
development of springs, and even by digging wells and building 
