Ii8 FOREST PLANTING. 



are in the present buffalo range ; all are in the region of short grasses ; 

 all are in the open, treeless plains, beyond the limits heretofore 

 assigned to settlements. 



Wheat, rye and barley were sown at each of these stations in the 

 fall of 1870 ; at Pond Creek, September 28 ; at Ellis, October 20 ; 

 and at Wilson, November n. At Pond Creek the rye grew finely 

 and matured a fair crop ; the wheat and barley were partially winter- 

 killed, but the surviving plants made heads of the usual length, well 

 filled with grain of good size and quality. At Ellis the promise of all 

 the grains was excellent until the 1st of June, when a hailstorm of 

 unusual severity prostrated every stem. At Wilson the grains all did 

 well. The President a d the Secretary of the Missouri State Board 

 of Agriculture (who, in company with members of the board, visited 

 the stations in June) say in their report : " We found wheat, rye, and 

 barley sown November n, 1870, (at Wilson,) equal to if not beyond 

 the average crop of any part of the Union." And of Pond Creek 

 they say : " The rye, sown 28th of September, on raw ground, would 

 rate as a good crop in Missouri or Illinois ; and of the winter wheat 

 and barley, the plants which had survived the winter were heading 

 out finely. Rye may be regarded as a valuable crop to the west line 

 of Kansas (without irrigation) ; and further trials of wheat and 

 barley of the more hardy kinds will, in all probability, be successful." 



Trials of grass seeds at the stations named have shown that 

 sorghum, lucerne, timothy, clover and Hungarian grass may be 

 regarded as future forage crops on the plains ; the first and last being 

 the most promising. Maize can be grown for fodder at each of the 

 stations, and for its grain at Wilson and Ellis. At Pond Creek, 

 sorghum made a good length of stalk and matured fine panicles of 

 seeds. At Ellis and Wilson the stalks reached a height of nine to 

 ten feet, and abundance of seeds were matured. This plant will be 

 found to be of great value in Western Kansas and Eastern Colorado, 

 if its usefulness for fodder has not been greatly overrated. In the dry 

 atmosphere of the plains, the stalks could probably be dried so as to 

 avoid the souring of the juice, on which account, in Illinois, an objec- 

 tion has been raised to its use as a fodder-plant. 



