18 hlVAA) WOKK OF l^rVISION OF AGROSTOLOGY. 



the o-nisses aiul forage phuits was secured, which has added very 

 materially to our knoAvledo-e of the native species, their distri))uti()ii, 

 abundance, and \alue. 11ie oeneral results of these Held studies have 

 not vet been i)uhlished, but the careful and valuable notes secured by 

 Messrs. Combs and Scribner Avill be incorporated in the report on the 

 Gulf States referred to above. Besides the al)ove-meiitioned field 

 work in this region. Prof. F. Lamson-ocribner, Chief of the Divi- 

 sion, has spent short periods at several points in Florida with especial 

 reference to the question of sand-binding grasses of the region, ajid 

 has also compiled, from the reports of the various field workers in the 

 South, Farmer's Bulletin No. 102, '^Southern Forage Plants,'' which 

 treats in a simple and condensed manner the various forage problems 

 and plants of the South, giving directions for formation and care of 

 pastures, describing soiling and fodder crops, and giving a thorough 

 account of the more important ha}^ and pasture plants, with descriptions, 

 illustrations, methods of cultivation, relative value, etc., of each. 



THK GREAT PLAIISS. 



CONJMTIO.NS AND I'lJOJiLEMS. 



The Great Plains region, as limited for the purposes of the present 

 discussion, extends from North Dakota south to Indian Territory and 

 west to the foothills of eastern Colorado, Wyoming, and Montana. 

 Though the area undei- consideration includes many million acres, yet 

 the grasses and forage plants and climatic conditions are very similar 

 ^ throughout. The annual precipitation decreases over the whole region 

 as one goes from the eastern border to the western. In the eastern por- 

 tions of Kansas, Nebraska, and the Dakotas the annual precipitation 

 averages from 25 to 30 inches. In the western portion of the Great 

 Plains the rainfall is much less, the annual precipitation averaging from 

 10 to 20 inches. In the first half of the last century nearly all of this 

 territory was included on the maps of the period under the title of the 

 "Great' American Desert." As the tide of immigration proceeded 

 westward and the actual conditions became more definitely known, the 

 imaginary borders of this desert were gradually pushed westward. 

 The very fertile soils of eastern Kansas, Nebraska, and the Dakotas were 

 found to produce abundant crops of wheat, corn, and other cereals, and 

 rapid settlement and development of the country immediateh' followed. 

 Attracted by the glowing accounts given by the early settlers, farmers 

 from the East and immigrants from Europe continued to take up land 

 and begin the cultivation of the soil. It was soon found by experience 

 that while excellent crops were usually certain in the eastern borders 

 of this region, the amount of moisture available during the season 

 decreases so rapidly as you proceed westward that after passing the 

 ninety-eighth meridian the production of corn and wheat is a matter 



