8 BULLETIN 430^ XT. S. DEPARTMENT OP AGEICULTURS. 



The United States Weather Bureau, in reporting killing frosts, 

 uses the staple crops of any given locality as a basis for determining 

 the character of a given frost. Therefore, a temperature of 32° F. 

 is not necessarily a kilhng frost, depending on the hardiness of the 

 staple crops grown in the area under discussion. 



At Cheyenne the average frost-free period is 125 days. 



CHEYENNE EXPERIMENT FARM. 



LOCATION. 



The Cheyenne Experiment Farm is located in Laramie County, in 

 southeastern Wyoming, about 8 miles east of Cheyenne and half a 

 mile southeast of Archer. Archer is on the Union Pacific Railroad, 

 while Cheyenne is on the Union Pacific, the Colorado & Southern, 

 and the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroads. The farm is about 



Fig. 2.— Buildings on the Cheyenne Experiment Farm, Archer, Wyo., in 1915. (Photograph lent by 

 the Office of Dry-Land Agriculture Investigations.) 



35 miles west of the Nebraska State line and 15 miles north of the 

 Colorado State line. It lies in about 41° 8' N. latitude and 104° 48' 

 W. longitude. A view of the farm buildings is shown in figure 2, 

 of the barns and silo in figure 3, and of a farmers' round-up at the 

 station in figure 4. 



DESCRIPTION. 



The farm consists of 250 acres. It was part of a large cattle ranch 

 and for years had been used for grazing purposes. The soil is a sandy 

 loam, varying in depth from 3 to 6 feet. Below these depths the soil 

 is gravelly or sandy. The surface soil contains a low percentage of 

 humus. 



The farm slopes gently a little south of east and excellent surface 

 drainage is afforded. 



A map of the farm is shown in figure 5. The experimental work 

 has been conducted on the west field. This field, of about 100 



