THe JOURNAL 



OF 



^fie department oj Mgriculture 



OF 



VICTORIA 



Vol. XVI. Part 7. lOth July, 1918. 



AGRICULTURE IN AMERICA. 



Letter from Mr. A. E. V. Richardson, M.A., B.Sc, to the 

 Director of Agriculture. 



[This letter contains information of a character so interesting and 

 valuable to Victorian agriculturists that, although it is unofficial, I am 

 taking the liberty of publishing it. — S.S.C.] 



I am forwarding herewith a few notes on the progress of my investi- 

 gations for the month of March. During March, I visited the States 

 of Utah, Colorado, Kansas, and Iowa, and made a careful investigation 

 of the work done by the Agricultural Colleges in these four States. 



These States are as unlike in physical and agricultural features as 

 four adjoining territories could well be. Utah is an arid State, with a 

 large proportion of desert land, and a small area of intensely cultivated 

 irrigable land. 



Colorado is very mountainous, ranging from 4,000 to 14,000 feet 

 high, and is devoted to specialized industries, such as sugar-beets, potatoes, 

 alfalfa, tomatoes, beans, and, in addition, sheep feeding in conjunction 

 with alfalfa raising. The climate is dry and cool. 



Kansas has an elevation varying from 700 feet along the Missouri 

 River to 4,000 feet on the boundary of Colorado. It is one of the great 

 winter wheat States, and the centre of enormous milling and meat- 

 packing interests. Kansas City is one of the great primary meat 

 markets of the world. It also produces an immense quantity of maize 

 (corn in America), and the natui'al concomitant of maize — hogs and 

 beef cattle. 



Iowa is the great corn State of America, and contains within its 

 boundaries 35,500,000 acres of the richest agricultural land on the 

 globe. JSTinety-seven per cent, of the State consists of arable land, 

 and the average value of the whole of the land of the State is probably 

 225-250 dollars. The soil is mostly black sandy loam, 12-18 inches in 



9307. 



