INVESTIGATION OF GRASSES OF THE ARID DISTRICTS OF KAN- 
SAS, NEBRASKA, AND COLORADO. 
Washington, September 29, 1886.. 
Hon. NORMAN J. COLMAN, 
Commissioner of Agriculture : 
Dear Sir: In accordance with your commission to make an investi- 
gation of the grasses and forage plants of the arid districts of' the- 
West, I have the pleasure of informing you that I have recently spent 
about six weeks in an examination of that part of the arid region em- 
braced in the States of Kansas, Nebraska, and Colorado, and in the 
northeastern part of New Mexico. 
The eastern boundary of the arid region has been commonly fixed at 
the one hundredth meridian. It has been estimated that nearly one half 
of the laud belonging to the United States, exclusive of the Territory of 
Alaska, lies west of this line, and amounts to some 900,000,000 acres. 
Much the larger part of this immense region consists of mountains and 
arid land. A large part of the land on the Pacific coast is productive 
without irrigation, and some of the finest land for grazing purposes lies 
in the mountain valleys and parks, where there is an abundant rainfall. 
The remainder of this great domain consists mainly of arid land, such 
as the high mesas of Western Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Southern 
California, Utah, Nevada, and Wyoming, in addition to those portions 
of Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, and New Mexico before mentioned. 
Various estimates have been made as to the amount of this arid land; 
probably two-thirds of all the territory west of the one hundredth meri- 
dian may be considered of this class, and so far as it has been utilized, 
has been chiefly occupied for cattle and sheep ranches, for which pur- 
pose alone it was thought to be adapted. 
NORTHEASTERN NEW MEXICO. 
The time at my disposal only admitted of an investigation of the part 
of this region which I have mentioned, and I will first speak of the 
northeastern part of New Mexico. This is separated from the great 
plains of Colorado by an eastward projection of the Raton range of 
mountains. This range rises to the height of about 8,000 feet at the 
crossing of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad. The town 
of Trinidad lies at the base of the range on the northern side, at the 
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