2 CIRCULAR 421, U. S. DEPARTMENT OE AGRICULTURE 



Reduced appropriations compelled the Bureaus of Plant Industry 

 and Dairy Industry to close their work at the station in 1932. The 

 present circular gives the results of the investigations of the Bureau 

 of Plant Industry from the time they began in 1912, to the time they 

 were discontinued in 1932. 



AGRICULTURAL HISTORY OF THE SECTION 



This section was first settled by large cattle companies whose busi- 

 ness was growing beef cattle on the open range. Later, settlers and 

 squatters took up favored locations along streams and watercourses. 

 Some of these settlers produced crops in a small way, but cattle pro- 

 duction on the open range remained the chief source of income. 



The building of railroads into the section in the eighties brought 

 about a great increase in homesteading and resulted in the breaking 

 up of the large cattle companies. Many of the original homesteaders 

 had no intention of remaining permanently in the country and con- 

 fined their cultivation to the acreage necessary to obtain title to the 

 land. Many of those who intended to remain were unfitted both by 

 temperament and training for the life of a homesteader. As a result, 

 much land passed into the hands of loan companies and nonresident 

 owners. Settlement of the country was greatly stimulated during 

 a series of years of good production. A series of bad years had the 

 effect of depopulating the section, as very few of the settlers were 

 financially situated to withstand successive years of crop failure. 

 The last great wave of settlement was in the years 1905-12. During 

 this period practically all the remaining land fitted for cultivation 

 was settled and taken out of the public domain. 



Crop production on a large scale was not practiced before 1912. 

 During the period 1911-15 acreages under the plow were gradually 

 increased. The stimulation of wartime prices greatly increased pro- 

 duction during the next few years. The acreage continued to in- 

 crease during the period 1918-29. The improvement of the farm 

 tractor and other implements adapted to large-scale production was 

 responsible for much of the increase. From 1929 to 1932 the acreage 

 of land under cultivation remained almost stationary. Very little 

 new land was brought under cultivation, but practically all that had 

 been broken was planted to crops. 



TYPE OF AGRICULTURE PRACTICED 



The past 25 years have witnessed a change from livestock produc- 

 tion on the open range ? with a minimum amount of farming, to a 

 type of farming wherein crop production plays an important part 

 both as a method of providing feed for livestock and as a source of 

 cash income. Beef cattle remain the principal item of livestock 

 production, but hogs and sheep are grown to a lesser extent, and 

 the majority of farmers milk cows. Dairying as a specialized in- 

 dustry is carried on by very few individuals. 



The present tendency appears to be the consolidation of small 

 holdings into relatively large farm units, with pasture land and plow 

 land both contributing to the production of livestock. On nearly all 

 farms wheat is grown as a cash crop, and in good years an important 

 part of the farm income is obtained from it. 



