BIG SPRING PRAIRIE. 89 
Corn was the crop most commonly grown, but it 
was found from experience that only three payng corn 
crops could be grown on any area consecutively. The 
first year’s yield was excellent in quantity and quality; 
the second year’s good; and the third year’s fair. Af- 
ter the third year the yield was small, and of inferior 
quality. Wheat and oats were tried, but generally 
proved unsuccessful, as they would go down before they 
ripened on account of the lack of silicates and potash 
in the soil. On limited portions where the muck is not 
deep and, where, at the same time, there is a clay sub- 
soil, wheat and oats can be successfully grown. These 
crops prove successful also in immediate vicinity of the 
sand dunes, as the soil here is quite sandy. 
In a field just north of new road No. 2, clover was 
sown as an experiment, but it did not flourish very 
well, as too many weeds seemed to be able to gain a 
foothold and thus crowd out the clover. Several of the 
areas formerly cultivated have been sown to a mixture 
of grass-seeds, and furnish excellent pasturage. If not 
too closely pastured, these areas seem to possess the 
power of preventing other forms of vegetation from 
gaining much of a foothold. When too closely pas- 
tured, partially bare spots are produced, and here other 
forms of vegetation establish themselves and gradually 
encroach upon the pasture land. The large pasture 
field in the western part of prairie is a good example of 
the former, while the pasture indicated by A on Map 
II. is a good example of the latter. 
In 1895 the Wild Rose Celery Farm was estab- 
lished by Mr. W. C. Johnson, now deceased. Being a 
practical gardener and celery grower, and being ac- 
quainted with the nature of various other drained 
marsh areas of the state, he recognized the value of 
this prairie land, which, before this time, was valued at 
about $10.00 an acre. After Mr. Johnson demonstrated 
its fitness for celery and onion culture, the land rose 
