6 
The landowner now plants because he wants trees. Consequently 
he is careful in his choice, and gives more after attention than did his 
predecessors. 
TERRITORY COVERED. 
The region most closely examined for this report was that part of 
the State westward of the ninety-ninth meridian, which passes near 
Kearney, Nebr., along the western edge of Smith, Osborne, Russell, 
Barton, Stafford, Pratt, and Barber counties, in Kansas, and a few 
miles west of Alva, Okla. But since the State boundary is wholly 
artificial, the conclusions reached apply equally weli to neighboring 
portions of other States. The study may therefore be said properly 
to cover the territory lying between the Platte and the Cimarron 
rivers, and between the ninety-ninth and one hundred and third 
meridians. It thus includes a little of northern Oklahoma, a con- 
siderable strip of eastern Colorado, and a portion of southwestern 
Nebraska. 
PHYSICAL FEATURES. 
This region is a part of the long eastward slope from the Rocky 
Mountains called the * Great Plains,” and on the west includes much 
of the subdivision which geologists have named the “ High Plains.” 
The altitude runs from between 1,500 and 2,000 feet on the eastern 
border to 4,000 and over on the western. Although the rise is so 
uniform as to be scarcely perceptible, with the increasing elevation 
and diminishing precipitation fewer forest species can be grown suc- 
cessfully. 
The principal rivers are the Republican, Solomon, Saline, Smoky 
Hall, and Arkansas. Smaller tributary streams and creeks are quite 
numerous. 
The soil on the uplands is generally of the type named by Professor 
Hay “ plains marl,” and has great depth and fertility. Much of the 
soil in southern Nebraska is loess, the good qualities of which are well 
known. In Oklahoma and southern Kansas occur the strikingly red 
sands and clays of the Red Bed formation. Valley soils are fre- 
quently loamy sand or sandy loam along the main streams, and of 
heavier character in the minor creek bottoms. Correlated with this 
difference in soil between the main and tributary streams is the 
noticeable preponderance of natural timber along the latter. Along 
the south side of the Arkansas is a belt of sand hills, narrow in the 
upper part, but widening to some 30 miles south of Great Bend. 
Since soil conditions are very uniform, only the types of location 
based on relative situation, viz, valley and upland, are used in this 
report. Valley or lowland areas are those along streams, where per- 
manent water exists at not more than 25 feet, a depth beneath the sur- 
[Cir. 161.] 
