CHAPTER III 

 AGRICULTURE IN WESTERN STATES 



1. Western Farming Conditions 



AN almost infinite variety of climatic conditions abounds 

 in the western states. From the Canadian line on 

 the north to the Mexican boundary on the south are to be 

 found nearly every range of plant life from sub-arctic to 

 sub-tropical. Here also exist many types of soils from the 

 thin, gravelly or volcanic ash covering the mountain ranges 

 to the richest silt of river valleys. The rainfall varies so 

 greatly that while it is possible to farm in many regions 

 under normal humid conditions, either irrigation or dry- 

 farming methods must be employed in other places to se- 

 cure and maintain sufficient moisture. Added to these 

 conditions are great differences in altitude, so that all 

 ranges of climate from arctic to warm temperature may be 

 found in traveling a few miles from mountain slope to 

 valley. Great ranges of slopes subjected to north or south, 

 east or west exposures also affect both climate and crop 

 conditions. 



Wide range of crops and animals. Almost every 

 crop known to man will thrive in some parts of the great 

 West. Here we find the richest yields of the cereals, cotton 

 in California, Arizona and New Mexico, the most abundant 

 forage crops, potatoes, sugar beets, sorghum, vegetables, and 

 a wider variety of fruits than is grown in any other coun- 

 try in the world. 



Farm animals thrive throughout the West and on the 

 great plains in no less variety. This region was the orig- 



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