the land was scarified as thoioughly as was possible uiidei' the circum- 

 stances. There is a rather heavy growth of mesquite trees growing in 

 each of the pastures, and on account of them it was not possible to 

 scarify the surfa(;e of every acre. 



The theory was, that by cutting the surface as deep as was practica- 

 ble with the harrows (disk and tooth) the roots in the ground would be 

 given better chance for development, the runners from the grasses 

 would find soft ground in which to take root readily, the rain would 

 sink into it instead of running oft', and the seeds that fell would find 

 a suitable jdace in whicli to germinate. In suite of the drought of 



» 



Yui, i,_ri:m 111' (UO-iicrc tract used (or tlio range experiments at Abilene, Tex. (Scale 3 inches to 



tlie mile.) 



1898, during wliich there was less rainfall even than during the mem- 

 orable dry year of 1887, theie was a marked improvement in the range, 

 treated as above mentioned. The harrowing was done during March and 

 April, 1898, and, fortunately, the rainfall was reasonably good just after 

 the work Avas completed and the autumn rains were nearly up to the 

 nornuil, although the sum of precipitation for the season was very much 

 below normal. A year from the first inspection, the same three stock- 

 men made a second visit to the station and unanimously reported a very 

 marked improvement over the conditions as tliey had found them in 

 March, 1898. They reported in March, 1899, that the capacity of the 



