Arizona republican., 1911-03-20
GRAZING PROBLEM
 IN ARIZONA GRAVE PROF J. ]. THORNBER POINTS
 OUT SOLUTION. In Experiment Station Bulletin He Recommends Leasing System
 for Public Lands

Every phase of the grazing problem
 In Arizona is eNhauStiVely treated in
 Bulletin No 65 of the University of
 Arizona Agricultural Experiment sta
 tion, which has just been issued This
 bulletin was written by Professor !
 J. Thornber, who is of the opinion
 that the efficiency. or carrying capa-
 city of the ranges can he greatly in
 creased by proper administration and
 restriction of grazing
 The Grazing Ranges of Arizona"
 IS the title of the bulletin and the Conditions Forage Plants of Ari-
 zona and Their Relation to Rain fall Protected Enclosures Versus Open Ranges. storm Water Elm
 bankments or Dams. Cultural Op-
 erations on the Small Range Re serve. The Past. Present and Flu
 ture of Our Grazing Ranges" The bulletin is in regular book size and contains $60 pages. exclusive of F pages occupied by halftone photo graphs of Arizona forage grasses and scenes on public and reserved ranges. \ rainfall and forage map of Arizona Is inserted. Two or three pages are devoted to valuable rainfall records for various localities and the re- mainder of the volume is reading
 matter. Proffesor Thornber's ad- dress before the last convention of the American National Live Stock association in Dalles. Texas. which created such favorable impression and caused such wide comment. was tsn .f E,r.f letin.
 Undoubtedly this bulletin is the most valuable work ever published for the stock grower and for all others interested in the grazing lands problem in Arizona. It is also valuable contribution to existing literature on the subject of conser- vation
 Professor K II. Forbes is the author Of the preface to Professor Thornbers work He says.
 Tn superficial extent Arizona's largest agricultural problem is and always win be her grazing ranges These vast areas Of unimproved country are capable of large and permanent production Of cattle. sheep. goats and horses if they but receive propr administrative care
 Following the destructive utilizs tion of our grazing resources for the last forty years under the ruinOus free range regime, public opinion throughout the western United States now calls for laws adequate for the control, restoration and beneficial use of approximately 400, ,0O0 acres of range country. This publication. the fruit ot some ten years study. is in the main contribution to that scientific knowledge on the subject which must underlie intelligent range management in our own southwest The administrative suggestions coral lary thereto are of more or less ap- plicdtion everywhere.
 World wide. indeed. in importance and interest both historically and at the present day. is the question of how best to make use of vast areas of semi-arid lands More than one sixth of the land surface of the globe is desert or near desert in haracter-sensitive in destructive agencies. difficult to restore There can be no doubt that man and his animals have had much to do with desert making in the old world. The weight of Asian horse herds. the close devastation of browsing camels, | the innumerable sheep and goats in rowing tribes. must have done much 1 to destroy vegetation. deepen drain age lines and extend the boundaries | pf these waste regions the old | world. whose deserts have always ! been free range. the destructive pro | reSs has attained it's full effect. and i even the traditions of one-time fer .ility have been all but lost
 Tn the new worlds we have seen | he danger in time, and 1t only re- mains for the Anglo Saxon. with his 'apacity of invention in government. n Australia. in Africa and in the Tnited States. to conserve and main ain in meager fruitfulnesS those ;emi-arid regions which in the aggre- gate are of immense importance and 'alue tu the human race
 At the end of the volume Professor Ihornber summarizes as follows
 The present condition Of our stock ranges is highly unsatisfac- ory to everybody. The production ,f forage. which at best is uncertain 'n account of the climatic conditions las been reduced to such an ex- ent over much of the country by that the grazing indus ry is of necessity carried on under most adverse conditions to the stock man. In part at least this condition an be remedied.
 Free grazing, with its numerous ttendant evils, chief of which are and overstocking. has ,een responsible for the great de- and breakdown of the ranges.
 The uncertainty of the rainy seas ms and the severity and length of roughly periods in the southwest make it imperative for stockmen to provide reserve feed for their herds " fencing and otherwise improving he ranges. develop convenient water applies so that stock will not be ompelled to travel more than three r four miles to water. conserve the anges during periods of seed natural ion and seed germination. eradicate uch obnoxious weeds as rayless ! ultivated areas wherever possible and V other means build up the range.
 The grazing areas in Arizona are f large extent and extremely diversi- led as to the seasons of their forage and their forage content.
 They approximate more than 50.- 00.000 acres in extent, and are our FfrrRaA