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Show FOIST SERVICE UlESrOK I Eest Grazing Methods Being Be-ing Studied Carefully by Department. Bulletin Gives Results of Experience in Range Management. The ureal lUestoelt Industry of the. west Is -so lariHy dependent on the Kmziun pi 11: 1 s within the national forests that the ritrht management of there lanos is of Import -nice to everyone who beef or mutton or wears shoes anil woolen garments, a'-rorditig to a recent bullet. n of the lc;, ai lment of agriculture. "I'.an Management on the National l-oiesls," b James T. .lanline, Inspector of ,'rrttzin, and Mark Anderson, nrazin.1,' examiner, which Klces the results of the fourteen years' experience in ranee management which tie-' for. Ml service has had since it assume. 1 ch.-u-ee of the forests. Inn-ini; these vears the forest service lias 1 n nwkiiK steadily to increase the country's supply of rneut. wool and hides by developing methods of handling stock on the raiiie which will allow as. larwe an increitse ;is possible In the numher of .sheep and cattle crazed without injury to the forests. With this bulletin as a Kuide, cj-nziuLC can be made more uniform uni-form on different ranges and the beat principles can be put into actual practice. prac-tice. Range Classification Important. ( 'lassitication of the range to determine the areas best suited to the different classes of slock Is the iirst important step toward the best use of the grazing resource. Cuttle and horses use a different differ-ent sort of ran.ee from sheep. .Sheep relish tender Kreon foliane and the grains of mane grasses, while cuttle consume the coarse jirnss forage. Cattle prefer level or rollinpr country, and allittale makes little difference if the stock have been raised on the range. Sheep do best on smooth ranye antl where the summers are cool. They can go from several days to several weeks without drinking, dependiny; upon the abundance of succulent weed forage, the temperature and the amount of rain and dew. Cattle need water oftener at least every two days Overgrazing is a cause of Injury to the ranee which must be carefully guarded against. In the post It has been difficult to know when a range was overgrazed until un-til the damage was considerable. grazing early on a different portion each J year for a series of years. The practical information necessary in 1 carrying out the various principles that j govern ran?,' a management is given in detail in the bulletin. Suggestions are made regarding watering, salting, herding, herd-ing, the establishment of drift fences, the eradication of poisonous plants, the protection of wild life, stock driveways, breeds of stocks, lambing grounds and the proper care of ewes and young lambs. . Exlonwtvo experiments by the forest service liave led to the discovery of a means of tie tooling overgrazing before it has progressed very far. Certain "earmarks" "ear-marks" appear in the vegetation, such as the predominance of annual weeds and grasses. like knot weed, tar weed and mustard, with ji den so stand of such species and lack of variety in species; the predominance of plants which have little or no value for any class of slock, and the presence of dead and partly dead stumps or shrubs. Noticeable damage to tree reproduction reproduc-tion and erosion and barrenness have long been recognized as signs of an advanced staqe of overgrazing. When the fact, of overgrazing has been determined, the next step is to find out the cause. The bulletin takes up the various causes in deta II and points out the remedies in each case. Seasonal Grazing Important. Establishment of grazing periods so as to prevent damage to the range through premature use has had as much to do with range improvement on the national forests as the prevention of overgrazing, if not more. The repeated removal of herbage year after year during the early part of its growing season causes rapid deterioration of the range. Little damage dam-age is done after the plants have mature seed, hut it is not practicable to allow all of the range to go ungrazed until after the seed matures. The problem is to work out seasonal grazing which will result in the maximum production of forage and livestock year after year. The usual way of doing this is to divide the range into several parts and begin |