SOIL SURVEY OF BANNER COUNTY, NEBRASKA. H 



The average date of the latest killing frost in the spring is May 15, 

 and that of the first in the fall September 22. This gives an average 

 growing season of only 129 days, and it is necessary to grow quick 

 maturing varieties of crops to realize the largest returns. The 

 earliest recorded killing frost in the fall occurred August 25, and 

 the latest in the spring June 5. The summer grazing season begins 

 about the middle of May and lasts until the 1st of November, Most 

 of the grasses cure into hay under natural conditions and furnish 

 considerable sustenance for stock throughout the winter. 



The prevailing winds in the winter are from the northwest, and 

 during the summer months from the south and southwest. Strong 

 though not destructive winds are common. 



The climate of the region is the controlling natural factor in agri- 

 cultural development. While the rainfall is not alw^ays sufficient 

 for as high yields of grain as can be reasonably expected in the east- 

 ern part of the State, the farmers have adopted methods whereby 

 fairly good returns are assured in all but the driest years. Careful 

 conservation of soil moisture and the selection of only the most 

 hardy and early maturing varieties of grain have resulted in making 

 the tillable parts of the county fairly dependable in crop production. 

 The growing season, however, is short, and corn and oats sometimes 

 fail to mature. 



AGRICULTURE. 



The first settlers to enter Banner County confined themselves to 

 cattle ranging on the open range, where a great variety of nutritious 

 grasses afforded good pasturage. During 1885 and 1886 the land 

 was rapidly taken up by homesteaders. With the passing of the 

 herd law in 1887 most of the cattlemen were forced out of the qpun- 

 try. As in other parts of the Great Plains, the waves of settlement 

 have advanced and receded. During the eighties the settlers had a 

 few years of good crops, and immigration was greatly stimulated, so 

 that by 1890 there was a farmer on nearly every quarter section in the 

 count3\ These good years were followed by the most disastrous 

 drought the region has ever experienced, ending in the extremely 

 dry years of 1893 and 1894. Total failures of all crops resulted, 

 and the new settlers -were so impoverished that they left tli*e county 

 in large numbers. In 1890 there were 565 farms in the county. 

 This number had decreased to 226 in 1900. The early population 

 was larger than that enumerated as late as 1910. 



The droughts experienced in these early years would not have 

 checked the development so seriously if the present dry-farming 

 methods had been practiced. The settlers were not supplied with 

 sufficient capital to maintain themselves during the years of failure ; 



