12 FIELD OPERATIONS OF THE BUREAU OF SOILS, 1916. 



ley, beet tops, oats, emmer, and such other feed and forage crops as 

 may have succeeded during the season are utilized. 



Dairying is carried on to a small extent, but is a comparatively 

 unimportant industry. Sufficient milk and butter is produced to 

 supply the local demand, and small shipments are made to outside 

 points. A small creamery has been established at Kimball. 



In general, the farmers who have had experience in the region have 

 selected the heavier and deeper soils as best adapted to small grains 

 and as capable of withstanding drought. Such soils in this county 

 are the more nearly level loam and silt loam types. The gravelly 

 and coarse sandy types are regarded by the farmers as not being 

 suitable for any purpose other than pasture. In the irrigated area 

 the finer textured soils with the deepest and least pervious subsoils, 

 rather than those with coarse, gravelly layers in the 3-foot section, 

 are selected for the special crops. 



The county is in an initial stage of development, and many of the 

 recent settlers are men of very limited means. The farm improve- 

 ments therefore can hardly be expected to compare favorably with 

 those of the older parts of the State where agriculture is on a more 

 stable basis. On most farms the buildings are very small and roughly 

 built, and some sod houses are still to be seen. 



The cattle on the farms are of good grades, the Hereford blood 

 predominating in the herds of beef cattle and the Holstein in the dairy 

 herds. Most farms have from three to six horses of heavy-draft 

 type. All the farms are equipped Avith the modern labor-saving 

 machinery required for grain farming on an extensive scale. Trac- 

 tors are extensively used for brealdng land. Machine diggers and 

 mechanical sorters are in use for harvesting the potato crop. 



In the tillage of the dry land it is the aim to maintain as loose a sur- 

 face soil as possible under the climatic conditions in order to conserve 

 moisture, without entirely pulverizing the soil. A slightly cloddy 

 or rough surface is necessary to prevent excessive shifting of the soil 

 by winds. Summer tillage for winter grain has been tried in a small 

 way, but it is not agreed that it is profitable. So far as experiments 

 have been made, fall plowing for spring wheat and oats has not 

 produced appreciably greater yields. 



In preparing new land for wheat the soil is broken to a depth of 

 3 or 4 inches with mold-board plows and heavy teams or tractors. 

 The sod is then disked and the wheat drilled in immediately. Under 

 another plan, the plows are followed by rollers or packers and the 

 grain seeded without further preparation. Where wheat follows 

 wheat the grain is frequently drilled in without any preparation of 

 the land, the drill sometimes following the binder. Wheat is also 

 planted between corn rows before that crop is harvested. 



