THE NATIONAL GOVEIINMENT 373 



problems of the arid region. The Weather Bureau, 

 long established and with perfected methods, has 

 been invaluable in guiding investigators into regions 

 where experiments could be undertaken with some 

 hope of success. The Department of Agriculture was 

 somewhat slow, however, in recognizing dry-farming 

 as a system of agriculture requiring special investiga- 

 tion. The final recognition of the subject came with 

 the appointment, in 1905, of Chilcott as expert in 

 charge of dry-land investigations. At the present 

 time an office of dry-land investigations has been estab- 

 lished under the Bureau of Plant Industry, which co- 

 operates with a number of other divisions of the 

 Bureau in the investigation of the conditions and 

 methods of dry-farming. A large number of sta- 

 tions are maintained by the Department over the 

 arid and semiarid area for the purpose of studying 

 special problems, many of which are maintained 

 in connection with the state experiment stations. 

 Nearly all the departmental experts engaged in dry- 

 farm investigation have been drawn from the service 

 of the state stations and in these stations had re- 

 ceived their special training for their work. The 

 United States Department of Agricultui'e has chosen 

 to adopt a strong conservatism in the matter of dry- 

 farming. It may be wise for the Department, as the 

 official head of the agricultural interests of the coun- 

 try, to use extreme care in advocating the settlement 

 of a region in which, in the past, farmers had failed 



