470 GEOLOGY OF NORTHWESTERN TEXAS. 



depth of from thirty to one hundred and fifty feet abundance of water can 

 be obtained by digging. These lands, instead of being, as the geographers 

 taught, a desert, are covered with a luxuriant growth of nutritious grasses, 

 and the soils are as good as any to be found in the State. 



Steadily the settlement of the country has gone on, and the large cattle 

 ranches that once occupied the entire country are giving place to the agricul- 

 turist. 



Thirty years ago the half of Nebraska was thought to be only fit for graz- 

 ing purposes, but now it is the center of one of the most fertile corn produc- 

 ing countries in the world. Colorado was once thought to be the same; so 

 was California; yet the value of their farm products is more than the output 

 of their mines in a single year. 



These results have been obtained by utilizing the rainfall by deep plowing 

 and subsoiling, and thereby forming a reservoir for the surplus water which 

 formerly ran off and was wasted. 



Last winter, at the foot of the Plains in Dickens County, we purchased oats 

 at a ranch at the same figures we had to pay for them in Wichita County. 

 They had been raised on a farm of three hundred and twenty acres sown en- 

 tirely in oats and barley. The oats had averaged over forty bushels to the acre. 



In Baylor County it has been demonstrated that good crops of cotton can 

 be made that will class with that raised on the " black waxy" lands of Dallas 

 and Collin counties. 



Wichita County is claimed to be the banner county of the State for small 

 grain; and these counties are but samples of what may be done in any of the 

 counties of the northwest. Practical tests have proven that the Panhandle 

 of Texas is destined to become a fine agricultural district. 



In determining the agricultural possibilities of a country there are two 

 things of importance to be considered; first, the quality of the soil; second, 

 the rainfall or the possibility of irrigation. 



In discussing the question of rainfall, the time at which the greatest pre- 

 cipitation comes and the mean temperature of the country will be taken into 

 consideration. If these be favorable, it is then for the farmer to adapt his 

 crops and manner of cultivation to the peculiarity of these things, that he may 

 secure the best results. 



In studying the capacity of the soils in the Northwest for agricultural pur- 

 poses, I have thought best to give a brief statement of the chemical ingredi- 

 ents necessary to the composition of fertile soils, and then to see how nearly 

 the soils of the Northwest will be found to correspond with this ideal soil. 



The soils get their chemical qualities from the rocks from which they have 

 their origin. The first thing, therefore, to be considered is the origin of these 

 soils. 



