Author: James Tertius Jardine

Publisher: Forgotten Books

Published: 2017-11-23

Total Pages: 52

ISBN-13: 9780331767896

Excerpt from Increased Cattle Production on Southwestern Ranges The locality is one of the most arid in the Southwest. Records for 55 years at Mesilla Park, about 15 miles southwest of the Reserve, show an average annual precipitation of 8. 63 inches, with precipita tion for individual years as much as 17 inches andas' little as inches. Temperatures as high as 106 are common in summer, and the'region is subject to almost continuous high winds and, conse quently, high evaporation. The soils ofthe plain are rather coarse to medium textured wind-blown sands, with patches of heavy adobe clay, usually with a rather high percentage of alkali, where water often stands until evaporated. The soils of the mountains and the outwash plains flanking them are coarse sands and gravels. Naturally, with this combination of poor soils, low precipitation, high temperatures, and high winds, the vegetation is comparatively thin and made up of drought-resistant, semidesert species. By far the greater part of the forage, perhaps 80 per cent, is furnished by perennial grasses, of which the most important are the grama grasses, three-awn, tobosa, drop - seed, muhlenb orgias, burro grass, and wolftail.1 On large areas of the foothills and mesa, black brush, creosote bush, and mesquite predominate; but black brush and creosote bush are worthless as forage, and the mesquite is of low value. In figure 2 the vegetation is classified into range types for all of the Reserve except the mountain portion. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.