18 FORESTATION, SAND HILLS NEBRASKA AND KANSAS. 



may be wintered in the hills. To be profitable the industry is depend- 

 ent upon a supply of hay in connection with each summer range, 

 except when steers are imported and grazed for the summer season 

 only. For summer range alone from 10 to 25 acres are required to 

 the head. The hills which are valuable only for this purpose, there- 

 fore, do not produce a revenue to the stockman of more than 50 cents 

 per acre, and the revenue to the Government for grazing use of 

 National Forest land is only about one-tenth of this, or sometimes 

 not more than 2 cents per acre. 



The development of water is necessary to the proper use of the sand 

 hills for grazing, since there is no surface water, except in the wet 

 valleys, and at times even this can not be reached by cattle without 

 danger. Much of the sand-hill range would be more productive 

 if more windmills were used, since cattle seldom use the grass more 

 than 2 or 3 miles from water, and the ground near the water is 

 therefore severely overgrazed, while good feed farther away goes to 

 waste. In the wet valleys water is usually obtained at from 30 to 40 

 feet, and seldom in the driest situations at more than 125 feet. For 

 pumping, windmills prevail, since they will operate for weeks without 

 attention. 



The lower ground capable of producing natural or introduced hay 

 crops has the highest value. It produces from 1 to 2 tons per acre, 

 valued at from $3 to $5 per ton. Only a very small proportion of the 

 sand-hill region, or that lying along the larger streams in some of the 

 wide interior valleys, and the "hard ground" which occurs in small 

 areas throughout, is fitted for agriculture. Potatoes and corn are the 

 principal crops, though the nights are too cool for the best growth of 

 corn. Much of the land which in past years has been considered 

 agricultural has had to be abandoned because of the rapid impoverish- 

 ment of the light soil and because of its movement by the mechanical 

 action of the wind after the sod is destroyed by cultivation. On the 

 other hand, much of this land has been profitably handled for forage 

 crops such as alfalfa, and for such crops it is well fitted. 1 



Since the sand hills proper produce such a small revenue, and since 

 either excessive grazing or agriculture may quickly destroy the pro- 

 ductiveness of the land, the advantage of using the sand hills for the 

 production of timber may readily be seen. Until the planting work 

 has advanced much farther, however, and the rate of growth of the 

 trees has been determined, it can not be stated with safety that 

 forestry will bring a higher return on the land than conservative 

 grazing. It is, however, quite certain that forestry will in time make 

 possible much more extensive agriculture, both by protecting from 

 wind and by changing the character of the soil by the addition of 



i Forage Crops of the Sand-Hill Section of Nebraska, Circular 80, Bureau of Plant Industry, U. S. Dept. 

 of Agriculture. 



