| Show government VALUES ALFILER ila AS FORAGE ON SPRING I 1 RANGES av washington sept 23 uncle sam Is s now stul studying ng the distribution and i tha the ha habits ailts lilts of one t of the I 1 bests best forage plants with a view I 1 of determining tue tile possibility of agrow growing ing it upon overgrazed over grazed ranges and and introducing it upon national for est si where hitherto it has been tin unknown known or has occurred only in limited quantities alcile j rilia Is a very valuable and hardy ardy forage plant which constitutes one 0 of the principle spring feeds upon many of of the semiarid semi arld ranges of the southwest stock fattens rapidly upon it and the gain is good hard tallow not easily lost through gli ship ment many stockmen Stoc kmen men have endeavored to introduce it upon their ranges and I 1 in ll 11 most instances their efforts have failed the cause of this failure Is now found to lie he in the tact fact proven by tests made by the bureau 0 of plant industry Indu siry that the seed sold by seed firms seldom has over ten per er cent power and that nine tenths of the seed sowed bowed is worthless I 1 the united states slates forest service has been in receipt of many requests for the planting of upon spring ranges within tiie the national forests and has decided to net act upon s them tests having proved the im am of securing satisfactory supplies of the seed through the or binary binary channels A IV sampson plant geologist ecologist was detailed to the work of securing a supply that would meet all requirements beginning his investigations upon the sequoia forest in california he discovered that by setting aside suitable tracts upon which the plant was abundant and watching its growth s seed e ed with a power in excess of ninety per cent could be secured in larger large quantities and at a cost much belo below the prevailing market prices As a result of his investigations the forest service has arranged i ra aged to set aside certain tracts in the southwest this fall for the purpose of cultivating and collecting al AI fil erilla seed the S seed eed thus secured will be used to reseed overgrazed over grazed and otherwise I 1 depleted ranges within national forests and it is planned to introduce the plant upon many dry ranges to which it has hitherto been a stranger the success of this movement means means much to the stockmen stoc kmen using national forest ranges in thea the southwest many JK a stack avner lias has been saved ia jd from heavy e avy loss or even I 1 absolute ruin by the Alfiler llla that covered his spring I 1 ranges angelat ang esat it a time when other early feeds were lacking and sustained his cattle until the ad vance of the season produced other sources of feed supply and it is probable that the plant will be as val bable in other portions of the cow coun irya tal |
