Needle-and-Thread Grass: Know It and Use It

Abstract

The story of the western range written as a chapter in the history of the land areas in the United States would be a dark and tragic tale. Known at first chiefly as a wide and desolate obstacle to the gold fields, the “Great American Desert” became suddenly the source of other great wealth-livestock. Efforts to ca.pitalize on the natural vegetation of the Great Plains area resulted in widespread range depletion. The gloomy, historical view of the poor management practices once accepted procedure on the western range is shot through with bright rays of good range management practices that have brought abolit the rehabilitation of some areas and the protection of others. Grass problems of the western ranges have been investigated by those of scientific inclination or interest. IIowever, many of the findings of these investigators are not common knowledge to those who face the problems in their everyday living. To prove effective, these results must be broadcast to all people concerned with the range and the animals that graze it. It is important for those who make their home as well as their living on the range to know I the kinds of grasses present, their growth habits and their management. With the lack of knowledge about individual range plants there exists considerable misunderstanding about the values of some species. One grass usually discussed in violent pro and con terms is needle-and-thread (St@a cow&a) or, more c 0 mm 0 nly, needlegrass. Needle-and-thread holds the dubious honor of probably being “the grass most likely to be in bad repute.” Kesentment of stockmen is at a peak during the seed-maturing season when the needlelike barbs of the seed spear anything within reach. The seed-maturing period lasts only two or three weeks during the early summer after which the seeds drop to the ground where they cause little trouble.