Feb . 24,1923 Effect of Burning on Vegetation in Kansas Pastures 635 
Table II .—Number of squares on all quadrats containing grasses and sedges ( igi8 to 
1921) 
Date of charting. 
Burned area. 
Unbumed area. 
Grasses. 
Sedges. 
Both. 
Grasses. 
Sedges. 
Both. 
First: 
Squares . 
Squares. 
Squares. 
Squares. 
Squares . 
Squares. 
Apr. 9, 1918..... 
234 
87 
321 
21 
34 
55 
Apr. 17, 1919. 
May 5, 1920. 
308 
114 
422 
163 
75 
238 
621 
39 
660 
492 
25 
5 i 7 
May 3, 1921... 
Average. 
665 
40 
7<>5 
548 
64 
612 
457 
70 
527 
306 
49 
355 
Second: 
Apr. 30, 1918. 
May 9, 1919.. 
437 
120 
557 
13 1 
66 
197 
746 
213 
959 
572 
86 
658 
May 22, 1920. 
761 
45 
806 
697 
116 
813 
May 27, 1921. 
Average. 
7 i 4 
5 i 
76s 
560 
93 
653 
665 
107 
772 
490 
90 
580 
Third: 
June 3, 1918. 
538 
145 
683 
486 
73 
559 
May 31, 1919. 
758 
172 
930 
601 
118 
719 
June 20, 1920. 
702 
105 
807 
660 
149 
809 
July 1, 1921. 
Average. 
652 
IX 5 
767 
524 
145 
669 
662 
i34 
796 
568 
121 
689 
The most striking and perhaps the most significant differences appear 
in the first charting. It will be noticed that there is almost a month's 
difference between the earliest first charting date and the latest first 
charting. 
In every season there was a much larger number of squares contain¬ 
ing grasses on the burned than on the unburned areas. In 1918 there 
were ten times as many squares containing grasses on the burned area 
as on the unburned; in 1919, the difference was 88 per cent; in 1920, 
26 per cent; and in 1921, 21 per cent. The decrease in the difference 
is no doubt due in part at least to the later charting dates in 1919, 1920, 
and 1921. Therefore the essential and important conclusion is that in 
each year there were more grasses on the burned area. This substantiates 
the opinion of those advocates of burning who claim that it makes 
green feed available at an earlier date. 
Burning seems to have decreased the number of sedges while no con¬ 
sistent change in this respect can be observed on the unbumed areas. 
Just why burning injured the sedges more than the grasses is not clear. 
The second charting of each year showed a marked increase in the 
number of specimens as compared with the first charting. This is to 
be expected and is due to the additional growth which takes place as 
the season advances. The paramount factor, however, is the greater 
number of grasses for the burned area compared with the unbumed. 
The increase of grass on the burned area was 233 per cent in 1918, 30 
per cent in 1919, 9 per cent in 1920, and 30 per cent in 1921. The 
large difference in 1918 is due to the early charting date and substantiates 
the conclusion that growth began much earlier on the burned plot. 
The number of sedges appears to have been decidedly increased by 
burning for two years while in the two other years a decrease was re¬ 
corded. 
