Apr. 12,1924 Vegetation in the Serniarid Portion of the United States 119 
Types which do not indicate natural 
of cultivation, burning, or over-grazing: 
(26) Matchweed arnrd mountain sage. 
(45) Weed grass. 
(93) Chaparral. 
conditions, but come in as the result 
(94) Manzanita brush type. 
(25) Matchweed. 
(43) Short-lived grass type. 
KEY TO THE CARRYING CAPACITY OF THE VEGETATION TYPES 
Practically all types of vegetation are used to some extent for grazing. Even 
in regions where sufficient moisture falls to produce crops and where the soils 
are suitable for this purpose, there is always a large acreage of physically non- 
tillable land that can be used only for grazing stock. In classifying the types 
of vegetation according to carrying capacity they have been listed in the ap¬ 
proximate order of their carrying capacity in three groups: (1) Best, (2) medium r 
and (3) poor to worthless. The carrying capacity figures are intended to cover 
the bulk of the lands occupied by each type but there may be areas having 
greater or lower carrying capacities for some of the types than are listed here. 
The carrying capacities also vary from year to year depending upon growing 
conditions. The figures given in this paper represent the carrying capacity in 
an average year. The figures also represent the carrying capacity for the period 
of each year that the lands occupied by the types can be grazed without injury 
to the vegetation. Unless otherwise stated the grazing capacity figures apply 
to the number of cattle that can be grazed on a square mile or section of land. 
Best Types 
Vegetation type: 
(46) Wet meadow_ 
(90) Willows__ 
(65) Saltgrass__ 
(38) Sacaton_ 
(37) Tussock grass_ 
(48) Mountain weed (sheep)_ 
(47) Dry meadow_ 
(34) Galletagrass_ 
(9) Grama grass and wild alfalfa_ 
(12) Grama .grass and western needlegrass_ 
(19) Grama-buffalo and mesquite_ 
(14) Grama-buffalo and western needlegrass. 
(16) Grama-buffalo and wheatgrass_ 
(41) Mixed mountain grass land_ 
(100) Aspen.__ 
(17) Grama-buffalo and wild alfalfa_ 
(2) Grama grass and wheatgrass- 
(11) Grama grass and valley sage_ 
(4) Grama grass, niggerwool, and Junegrass.. 
(40) Curly bunchgrass_ 
(39) Wheat bunchgrass_ 
(13) Grama-buffalo grass_ 
(5) Grama grass and mountain sage- 
(18) Grama-buffalo grass and soapweed yucca 
(91) Mountain brush land_ 
Carrying 
capacity 
100-300 
75-150 
50-150 
50-100 
50-100 
300-600 
50-100 
25-100 
50- 90 
40- 80 
40- 60 
35- 75 
30- 75 
25- 75 
30- 65 
30- 65 
30- 60 
30- 60 
30- 60 
30- 60 
25- 60 
25- 50 
25- 50 
25- 50 
25- 50 
