230 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



ma'--- 



Fig. 14. A Section of Westeen Yellow Pine in the Government 

 Forest Nursery at Halsey. 



and perhaps the stockman now niows his hay where once was open water. 



The soil and climatic conditions over the Sand Hills as a whole are 

 such as to fit this region in a peculiar manner for the grazing of im- 

 mense herds of cattle. It is from the pursuit of this great industry 

 that the region must always furnish its greatest returns. Thousands of 

 cattle are annually shipped to the eastern markets from the Sand Hills. 

 It is truly amazing to the " newcomer " to see how well the stock does 

 upon what seems to be very meager forage. But with a well-kept 

 range for the summer and plenty of hay for the winter the cattleman 

 realizes a neat return from his labors. Those inhabitants who are so 

 fortunate as to possess fertile valley land in addition to their upland 

 range have made considerable progress along agricultural lines. The 

 soil in many valleys is sufficiently fertile for the production of almost 

 all of the common field and garden crops. Naturally because of the 

 low acreage of agricultural land this industry will never reach great 

 proportions. Alfalj;a is destined to become the most .important single 

 crop in the Sand Hills. There are already many very good fields of 

 this valuable plant. It is especially fitted to the soil conditions of many 

 valleys^ and when once established it resists the fury of the wind in a 

 very encouraging manner. The success that has already been obtained 

 by the early soAvings should encourage other settlers to try it out very 

 carefully. 



Enormous crops of garden vegetables may be obtained from the river 

 flats if the gardens are so situated that the land may be irrigated from 



