Mar. 1910.] Conditions in Central and Western Kansas. 305 



tected only by the deeply worn ruts of a trail which forms a 

 poor substitute for a fire guard. In hot dry summers they 

 were browsed by cattle, hungry for something besides the brown 

 buffalo grass, and in winter were gnawed by horses high as 

 the starving creatures could reach. Their poor misshapen 

 trunks and bush-like tops tell the story of hard times that are 

 gone. They are sad reminders of the day when optimism ran 

 riot and theories of agriculture expounded by novices fresh 

 from the office and shop were rife in the land. 



PLATE 6. The story of trees planted by the man who tried. 



On the opposite page of the prairie, a page made of the same 

 material and exposed to the same sun and wind and storm, is 

 written large the story of the trees planted by the man who 

 tried. The man who used thought rather than theory, and who 

 in the hard years gave the soil opportunity to secure every 

 ounce of moisture that fell, and then worked to help the soil 

 sold it. 



There are enough successful plantations throughout the West 

 to furnish lessons for future planters. 



A study of the successes and failures resulting from the 

 plantings made in western Kansas forces the conclusion that 

 the factors which determine success or failure are, soil prepara- 

 tion, selection of species and condition of tree when set. The 

 seasonal variation, particularly as regards rainfall, constitutes 

 a factor of uncertainty, but with the three controllable factors 

 all favorable there have been very few seasons when tree plan- 

 tations have not attained a very fair measure of success. 



In 1887 the legislature established two Stations for work in 



