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Joumal of Agricultural Research 
Vol. XXVIII, No. 2 
type in the Great Plains, growing in a rather loose sandy or gravelly loam soil. To¬ 
ward the eastern side of the Great Plains it grows on a heavy soil.. As agricultural 
land it is equal to, or possibly superior to, Type (15), which it resembles closely. 
Wire needlegrass has very little grazing value and is only taken by stock when other 
feed is scarce. However, the short grasses produced in the type afford fair 
grazing. The poorer gravelly lands producing this type have a low carrying 
capacity of not more than 15 head of cattle per section. The better lands, how¬ 
ever, will graze double this number. 
(23) Niggerwool. —This type which is composed of a more or less pure 
stand of niggerwool occupies rather a limited area in the Great Plains section of 
Wyoming and Montana, growing usually on ridges or benches, where growing 
conditions are less favorable, due to shallow rocky soil or low rainfall. The land 
is of very little valye for producing crops unless water is available for irrigation. 
Niggerwool is rather tough, and therefore has a low carrying capacity, 5 to 15 
head of cattle per section. 
(24) Western Needlegrass. —Although needlegrass is widely distributed 
throughout the western United States, this type, which is composed of a medium 
stand of needlegrass containing scarcely any other plant species, has only been 
observed to any appreciable extent in northeastern Montana and northwestern 
North Dakota, where it occupies smooth to gently rolling bench lands, having a 
deep fertile black loam soil. This land is very fertile and easily tilled and since it 
occupies areas where the rainfall ranges from 15 to 18 inches, good crops of small 
grain can be produced in all but the dry years. This species affords fair forage 
when young but when it matures is too tough to be readily grazed by stock. 
Most of the tillable better lands that support this type are being successfully 
used for producing crops, mainly wheat. 
(25) Match weed. —This low-growing suffrutescent plant seldom occurs in 
pure stands except over burned areas or areas that have been greatly overgrazed 
or on old breakings. Its predominance on these locations is only temporary as 
it is gradually replaced, on the return to normal conditions, by the species origi¬ 
nally growing on these lands. It is native, however, to rocky, gravelly areas, or 
on lands having very shallow soil where it is generally associated with a few other 
species. This type is very common in the southern Great Plains and in the 
Great Basin. The acreage occupied by its natural habitat is rather small, 
however, regardless of its common occurrence. It is worthless for grazing, which 
accounts partly for its invasion of overgrazed areas. In its natural habitat it 
indicates nonagricultural land unless irrigated. 
(26) Matchweed and Mountain Sage (Artemisia frigida Willd.).—The 
matchweed and mountain sage type is found throughout the Great Plains on 
smooth bench lands having a rather coarse or gravelly loam soil. In the northern 
part of the Plains, mountain sage is more important and matchweed in the 
southern part. In the central Plain region this type indicates conditions inter¬ 
mediate between Type (25) in the South and Type (5) in the North. It consists 
of a mixed stand of matchweed and mountain sage growing over an open stand 
of short grass (grama or grama-buffalo), and characterizes old breakings, over- 
grazed land, and shallow soils where conditions are not favorable for a short 
grass cover. The type has low value for grazing. 
(27) Black Grama (Bouteloua eriopoda Torr.).—The black grama type is com¬ 
posed of a relatively pure cover of black grama with scarcely any other species. 
It does not form a sod cover but.branches out loosely to produce a relatively large 
amount of top growth. This species is dominant on large areas of grassland in 
the southwestern part of Ne# Mexico and southeastern Arizona, where it grows 
in a light loam soil. It is of little value for growing crops except in good years 
when forage crops can be successfully produced. It is a very important range 
