HISTORY OF THE FIRST YEAR’S WORK. : UB} 
fact, say that ‘‘anybody could take as rich a range as that, with a 
good lot of grass to begin with, and make a favorable showing under 
fair conditions.” What the Agrostologist wished to secure was 
results which, if satisfactory, would be accepted as being due to the 
putting into practice of correct theories and pushing them on correct 
lines. That is what Professor Georgeson had in mind when he 
selected an irregular body of land containing 640 acres lying about 
+ miles southwest of Abilene, in Taylor County. The following 
diagram of the land, with the explanation to follow, is submitted: 
Fic. 1.—Plan of the station grounds. 
Mr. C. W. Merchant, who owned the pasture which included this 
640 acres, had authorized Professor Georgeson to cut out all he cared 
to use in any shape to suit himself. There was no running water on 
any part of the tract selected, but through each of the subdivisions 
indicated were the beds of dry branches and holes that held water after 
copious rains, the water flowing into Elm Creek of the Brazos River, 
which supplied in the main the stock water for the entire Merchant 
pasture. Next to these branch beds were level lands known, locally, 
as ‘“‘second valley lands,” to distinguish them from the valley lands 
lying next to the creeks and rivers. All of these valleys were narrow, 
and extending out from them were lands known, locally, as ‘‘the 
