The morning journal-courier., 1908-01-15
RANGER -RESEEDING Studies and Experiments to Increase Forage on the
 Summer Range. PROMISING EXPERIMENTS There Is Hardly Limit to the Fossil bilities That Are Pre-
 sented.

The live stock industry turns to ac- count one of the greatest natural re- sources of the West, the forage crop.
 From the plains to the Pacific an astonishingly large proportion of the area is grazing land. It is estimated that this region contains over 400, 000,- | 900 acres which are useful at present only for pasturing stock. A map print ed in colors to brink out the main areas of agricultural grazing and des- ert lands was published not long ago.
 It showed the grazing land color spread like a sheet over nearly all this
 thing like one-third of the entire Unit
 ed States, with relatively minor patch
 es of the other colors. In arid regions
 the range is comparatively poor, but
 almost everywhere enough forage plants can grow to make grazing prof. itable. ~
 The Forest Service, in CO., operation
 with the Bureau of Plant Industry, has begun a series of experiments to
 find out how the carrying powers of
 grazing lands within national forests
 can be increased, In a nutshell, the
 problems are, first how to grow, and,
 second, how to utilize, the largest
 amount of forage. The conclusions
 reached are likely to have an import
 ant bearing on improved use of the
 open range generally. The economic
 possibilities of these experiments are
 enormous.
 In the past the stockman on the
 public lands has simply taken what
 nature offered him. But grazing tends
 to put nature at disadvantage. Plants
 which propagate by seed, for example,
 have no chance when the seed stalks
 are being eaten off all the time In
 many grazing regions the carrying
 power of the range has been greatly
 reduced through the present methods
 of use. Within national forests the re-
 striction of the number of stock to
 the capacity of the range has al-
 ready checked the worst evils which
 result from over-grazing. But the new
 investigations promise much greater
 things.
 These investigations are to be car
 ried out along three distinct lines
 studies of what can be done in the way of introducing cultivated grasses, studies of range improvement
 through better knowledge of how wild grasses propagate, and studies of how
 to handle both cattle and sheep so as to reduce the waste due to herding and l trampling. The present account deals with the first the introduction of cul- tlvated grass
 The man in charge of these studies
 Is Frederick V. Coville of the Bureau of Plant Industry, who is an expert in matter connected with the use of the l range. Mr. Coville made careful study of grazing problems in the Cas- cade Mountains of Oregon for the h. terior Department ten years ago, and 2 contributed to the discussion of graz. 5 ing questions, which formed part of l the Public Lands Commission report
 made in 1905. It was on his recom- Q mendation that the laboratory for des. g ert botanical research was establish. Q ed by the Carnegie Institution oi l Washington and Tucson, Ariz. He : Is, therefore, very we'll prepared foi : this work. which. to be successful n must be run on thoroughly practica E lines.
 The experiments will begin in Wal { Iowa county, in northeastern Oregon 7! in the Imnaha National Forest Here at different attitudes, number o 2 moist natural meadows have beer S picked out Those having the greates P altitude are. 10000 feet or more abov, n the sea, where in early July the snow e still covers the ground. although rap
 idly melting under the summer sun The lowest meadows are about 5,00' feet above sea level.
 A The purpose of these wet-meadov
 experiments is improvement of tn, . summer range. Stock do not winte a In the mountains, but are driven grad f ually hihger and higher as the ad n vancng season calls forth the vegeta
 ton on which they feed. The winte
 ranges on the plains, supplementet
 largely by the hay alfalfa and othe > feed crops which the ranches produce l. depend for their utilization upon thi ' summer pasturage, to which the stocl Is can be driven when the dry seasol
 sets in. If means can be found to i'm st prove the summer range the benefi ?, will be felt from Canada to Arizon r. and New Mexico, so that the expert l. ments are of broad importance. r. In the higher parts of the Imnah y National Forest good late summe n pasture for sheep is valuable Snoy If 1,o Y,i lac or h l. year, and the grass that grows mus $. grow quickly. The natural pasture o IS these high mountain meadows is fair rs ly good, but there is room for i'm y provement The native bluegrass doe n not produce a sod, but grows i d punches. A sod of turf is wanted, an If some of the meadows will be seede [. with well-known species to test wheth IT CT they will grow and bring the de
 sired result. Timothy, redtop, blue le grass. and a clover called Alsike, orig le inally brought from Sweden, will b ly tried. Eight or more patches of fror
 three to twenty acres each will b r. seeded.
 ie It is a id and rugged mountai l. region with few trails, and those yer lg difficult. Harrows or other agricultul c. al machinery could not be taken il lc except on the back of pack animal le Plainly. any method of seeding whic re could have any practical value mu; d. find other instruments than the too ns upon which the farmer ordinarily r, s lies. The sharp cutting hoofs of shee pr will be the only harrow used.
 m The meadows selected for sowin is will first be grazed as short as shee D. can crop the native grass. Since tf
 ground is wet, it will be much cut U r- by the sheep. Clover, timothy, redto is or bluegrass seed will then be SOW lls broadcast and the sheep will be drive ge to and fro across it until the seed F, haata,, 1vall into fhe Soil This ss-ill l