16 BULLETIN 698^ U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGEICULTUEE. 



RECENT AGRICULTURAL HISTORY. 



Not more than 15 or 20 years ago the Panhandle was occupied 

 by immense cattle ranches, used only for grazing purposes. The 

 dense growth of short but nutritious grasses, chiefly buffalo grass and 

 blue grama, furnished both winter and summer pasturage for count- 

 less numbers of beef cattle, which had no other feed from weanmg 

 time to marketing. Under this system from 15 to 40 acres of grazing 

 land were required for each animal, depending on the nature of the 

 grass cover, the character of the season, and the time of year. 



Between 1890 and 1900, conditions in the stock-ranch industry 

 became unsatisfactory and a change began. Overstocking the 

 range had resulted in heavy losses during seasons of drought and dur- 

 ing severe winters. A call for feeding crops suited to the Plains was 

 coming from the ranchers. The demand for new, cheap lands for 

 homes and crop production was increasing. The large ranches were 

 being divided and portions sold for.farms. This process is still going 

 on throughout the range country. 



Most of the settlers came from the more humid States of the 

 Mississippi VaUey area, where conditions are almost entirely different. 

 Some of them brought the proceeds of high-priced lands and invested 

 heavily; others came with only meager equipment and financial 

 resources. Few of them had knowledge > of the crop varieties or 

 cropping methods most hkely to be successful under the rigorous 

 conditions prevailing on the high, dry plains. Most of them came 

 expecting to grow the crops they had previously grown in more humid 

 sections. An increasing demand for information came from new 

 settlers who wanted suitable field crops and from ranchmen who 

 wanted feeding crops. 



THE CEREAL FIELD STATIONS. 



In response to the increasing demand for information on dry-land 

 crops, experimental work was begun by the Office of Cereal Investiga- 

 tions in 1903. Experiments were conducted for three years at 

 Channing, Tex., on the X I T Ranch. In 1906 the work was trans- 

 ferred to Amarillo, Tex., where it has since been conducted. The 

 work there was started on farm No. 1, situated 1 mile southwest of 

 the town. In 1910 it was transferred to farm No. 2, which hes 

 about 2 miles northeast of the town. 



Amarillo is located in what is known on the Plains as 'Hight" land, 

 a dark, clay loam, bearing a close turf of buffalo and grama grasses. 

 The average rainfall is about 21 inches annually. This location is 

 fairly representative of a considerable part of the Panhandle. The 

 results obtained there are applicable to most of the Panhandle and 

 to small adjacent portions of New Mexico and Oklahoma. 



