The evening herald. [volume] (Albuquerque, New Mexico) 1914-1922, 1914-02-02
RANCE CAN Be
RESTORED
Possible Without Closing It,
Department of Agriculture
Declares in Recent Bulletin.

That "A serious decline In the carry
ing capacity Of vast areas OF western
grazing lands. due largely TO the fact
that stock'ncn fail to give the range
plants "a chance To keep growing. can
be remedied without closing tines.
areas 10 cattle and sheep. is the state
ment made by the department Of
agriculture in "a bulletin recently is
sued on range Improvement. Excess
sive grazing 10 the spring before the
forage crop II mature. ana such graz
ing continued year after year. says
the department. are the main causes
Of range deterioration.
ON the national forests. the depart
ment points out, where the govern
ment is doing away with these evils
and stock Is handled under govern
mcnt regulation, the range lands have
improved to a point where 1t Is again
possible To market large numbers %
beef and mutton animals directly
from the range.
In the free for an" period os early
days, the department goes on to any,
the most pnlatabic forage plants were
30 closely cropped that they were UNI
able 60 develop the necessary plant
fod. and so literally starved. In adj
dition. the roots were frequently In
jured by trampling or killed by eX-
posurc. A. o result the best kinds Of
vegetation grew weaker from season
to season, and where the practice Of
early and close grazing was contin-
ued the n at last became prac-
ticaliy denuded.
The vegetation which furnishes the
grazing crop has much he same
growth requirements "a "a farm crop.
M farmer who hopes 10 realize he
best returns from a permanent hay
meadow. II Is stated, would think OF
harvesting the crop M soon AK u "
tall enough To cut, regardless Of
whether OF not h Is mature. Nor
would he Craze a permanent pasture
closely from the time the growth be-
gins until It ceases. for he knows that
this will result finally IN killing IL out
| And since climate and soil conditions
oVer much a.! tae western grazing
iunds are less favorable ~ plant
growth han those on the average
farm even greater care must be eNer-
cised ln utilizing the range crop than
IL necessary with that on the farm.
The remedy suggested for range
deterioration Is a system OF deferred
grazing Under such IA plan an over
grazod portion OF the sufh-
clently large tu supply d forage
from the time OF seed maturity until
the end OF the grazing season, is pro-
tected from stock until he seed CROP
has matured. Upon maturity of the
seed crop the forage Is grazed dur-
Ing the drst season. hut not TO the
extent OF iniuring seed plants. The
same area is protected In the same
way during The second and, II neces-
sary. subsequent seasons. or until the
new plants have been securely estab-
liEhed. When the area has been thor
oughly reseeded II can be again
grazed early In the season. and "a. sec
ond area, large enough To accommo'
date the stock from the Time OF seed
rlpenlng To the end Of the season. d
protected until the forage Is mature
By this method 81 alternating lat,
grazing from 0ne area TO another
weakened vegetation can recover ~
vitality without the need Of havinf
the land closed 90 grazing the ontir'
year.