366 DRY-FARMING 
to the work of the farm. The passage in 1887 of the 
Hatch Act, creating agricultural experiment stations 
in all of the states and territories, finally initiated 
a new agricultural era in the United States. With 
the passage of this bill, stations for the application of 
modern science to crop production were for the first 
time authorized in the regions of limited rainfall, 
with the exception of the station connected with the 
University of California, where Hilgard from 1872 
had been laboring in the face of great difficulties 
upon the agricultural problems of the state of Cali- 
fornia. During the first few years of their existence, 
the stations were busy finding men and problems. 
The problems nearest at hand were those that had 
been attacked by the older stations founded under 
an abundant rainfall and which could not be of vital 
interest to arid countries. The western stations 
soon began to attack their more immediate problems, 
and it was not long before the question of producing 
crops without irrigation on the great unirrigated 
stretches of the West was discussed among the 
station staffs and plans were projected for a study 
of the methods of conquering the desert. 
The Colorado Station was the first to declare its 
good intentions in the matter of dry-farming, by 
inaugurating definite experiments. By the action 
of the State Legislature of 1893, during the time of 
the great drouth, a substation was established at 
Cheyenne Wells, near the west border of the state 
