THE GREAT PLAINS 5 



agement of the public and private lands, upon which the future 

 of the Hvestock industry depends, is an economic problem of 

 tremendous importance. 



FORAGE-CROP AREAS 



Rainfall and temperature probably determine, more than 

 any of the other important factors, the luxuriance of growth 

 of forage plants, and, to a large extent, their requirements for 

 moisture and heat determine their suitability to a given region. 

 The following discussion deals briefly with the conditions and 

 limitations of our forage-producing areas, with special reference 

 to the region which now provides the greater part of the native 

 forage crop. 



The region in which timothy hay, on the one hand, and 

 Bermudagrass, on the other, are grown commercially represents 

 in general the tract where cultivated forage and fodder plants 

 are largely rehed upon to furnish the hay and pasture crops. 

 The timothy area extends from New England to the southern 

 boundary of Virginia and west through Minnesota and eastern 

 Kansas, falling a Httle short of the looth meridian. The Ber- 

 mudagrass area, on the other hand, occupies the warmer southern 

 region — the true cotton belt — and extends west to include 

 eastern Texas. In general, the timothy-Bermudagrass ex- 

 panse represents the " humid region," and thus embraces prac- 

 tically none of the native (arid) pasture type. There are other 

 isolated and restricted humid areas in the western part of the 

 United States where cultivated crops are successfully grown, 

 but they are insignificant in extent as compared with those 

 mentioned. 



The native range lands lie almost entirely west of the looth 

 meridian and comprise the vast arid region. On the basis of 

 the physical and climatic conditions, this extensive area may be 

 divided into five well-defined regions — the Great Plains, the 

 Rocky Mountain region, the Great Basin, the Southwest, and 

 the Pacific coast. 



The Great Plains. — This region, including the western por- 

 tion of North and South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, 



