THE SAND-HILL KEGION. 17 



should not be lost sight of that the sand hills contain the same 

 material as the sandstone of the Arikaree formation. 



Writing on information obtained in 1893, Rydberg ^ stated: 

 Pine logs have at a few places been found buried in the sand. There is a canyon in 

 Custer County which still contains living pines. It is very hard to explain how pine 

 seed could have been carried from the Pine Ridge in Dawes and Sheridan Counties to 

 Custer County, and none have been sown in the intermediate tract. * * * Very 

 likely in former days the pines grew, if not all over the hills, at least in many places 

 among them. The red cedar is at present not uncommon on the hillside along the 

 Dismal River, and I myself found stumps and fragments of this tree at several places 

 in the sand hills, where there was no vestige of living trees. 



It seems very likely that yellow pine was formerly common in all 

 of the sand-hill region of Nebraska, as well as in the sandstone coun- 

 try; that it has been driven out of the sand-hill, or ^4ong-grass," 

 region by the repeated destructive fires of the past; and that it has 

 been able to survive in practically all of the ^^short-grass" sandstone 

 region, because the fires there were much less destructive. It is a 

 well-known fact that yellow pine is not killed by light grass fires. The 

 same conditions have probably largely determined the present dis- 

 tribution of red cedar. It is found now in Nebraska sand hills, 

 mainly on the hard short-grass ground along the Dismal River, 

 though it is well known that it will grow in sand; and in Kansas it is, 

 similarly, found only on the hard ground southwest of the Kansas 

 Forest. 



To sum up the situation as to tree growth in the Nebraska sand 

 hills it may be said that, while unfavorable natural conditions, assisted 

 by fires, have prevented the natural growth of coniferous forests, the 

 soil conditions are favorable for the growth of the pines, and the 

 climatic conditions are not such as to prevent the successful growing 

 of these species by artificial means. The Kansas sand hills, on the 

 other hand, do not show any evidence of ever having supported pine 

 forests, probably on account of their recent formation, their great 

 distance from the nearest established forests, and the distinct lack of 

 snow, which is essential to natural reproduction. But there is nothing 

 in these facts to prevent the growth of forests in the Kansas hills. 



INDUSTRIES. 



The principal industry of the sand-hill region of both States is cattle 

 raising. The sand hills furnish excellent summer feed,^ which, during 

 the spring and summer, is succulent and productive of both beef and 

 milk, but after freezmg is much less valuable than the forage of the 

 short-grass region. The hay makes good roughage, but lacks protein, 

 and is not strengthening if fed mthout grain. Occasionally cattle 



1 Flora of the Sand Hills of Nebraska, Bulletin of the Division of Botany, Vol. Ill, no. 3, 1895. 



2 Forage Crops for the Sand-Hill Section of Nebraska, Cir. 80, Bureau of Plant Industry, U. S. Dept. 

 of Agriculture. 



63519°— Bull. 121—13, 3 



