FOREST PLANTING. 



117 



ments had stretched along the railway to points more than two 

 hundred miles west from the State of Missouri. The pioneer had 

 passed the boundary of the traditional " desert " at the ninety-seventh 

 meridian, and in his march westward had found that the desert, like 

 its own mirage, receded before him. Was his march to continue ; 

 and how much farther could soil, temperature, and rainfall be relied 

 on to reward cultivation ? These questions, important to the interests 

 of the general public, as well as of the railway, could best be 

 answered by experiments, and the directors of the company ordered 

 some such experiments to be made. 



In the spring <j>f 1870, gardens were made at some of the stations, 

 at distances between two hundred and thirty-nine and three hundred 

 and seventy-six miles west of Kansas City ; the farthest westward 

 being at Carlyle Station, 2,948 feet above the level of the sea. Seeds 

 tried in these gardens germinated well, and the plants, with rude and 

 imperfect culture, grew encouragingly. The results were satisfactory, 

 although the destruction by insects was greatly beyond anticipation. 

 Irish potatoes, for example, made vigorous growth, yet about the time 

 of blooming were destroyed by a species of blister-beetle, (Epicauta 

 corvina, Riley,) which proved to be a more formidable enemy than 

 even the Colorado potato-bug. Spring wheat matured merchantable 

 grain at Carlyle. 



In the summer and fall of 1870 a few acres were broken at each of 

 the three following stations, on the Kansas Pacific Railway, distant 

 from Kansas City and above the level of the sea as follows : 



These places are in the western half of the State of Kansas. All 



