FORAGE CROPS FOR THE SAND-HILL SECTION OF NEBRASKA. 



tion through the action of the wind, vary in depth from 15 to 50 feet 

 and present the most difficult problem to deal with in the improve- 

 ment of the sand hills. (Fig. 2.) 



CLIMATE OF THE SAND-HILL AREA. 



The forty-second parallel of latitude passes through about the 

 middle of the sand-hill district. The temperatures in the hills are 

 about the same as those along this parallel in eastern Xebraska and 

 Iowa, except that the rapid radiation of heat at night from the samty 

 soil and the higher altitude make the nights cooler and bring the 

 fall frosts somewhat earlier. In the western portion of the sand hills 

 the climate is also more variable and the changes in temperature 

 more sudden. The rainfall varies from 23 inches in the eastern part 



Fig. 



View between Seneca and Mullen, Nebr., showing the character of the native 



vegetation. 



of Holt County to 16 inches in Sheridan and Morrill Counties. As 

 a rule this rain comes at a seasonable time, being most abundant dur- 

 ing the growing season of crops, from the middle of April to the first 

 of August. 



NATIVE VEGETATION. 



The entire sand-hill district is fairly well covered at the present 

 time with grasses. (Fig. 3.) Among the most common species 1 

 are the following: 



On the tops and sides of the sand-hill ridges: Long-leafed reed- 

 grass {C alamovilf a longifolia), redfieldia (Redfieldia flexuosa), 



1 Rydberg, P. A. Flora of the Sand Hills of Xebraska. Contributions from the United 

 States National Herbarium, vol. 3, pp. 139-143. Also round, Roscoe, and Clements, F. E. 

 The Phytogeography of Nebraska, vol. 1, pp. 345-347 and 352-368. 

 [Cir. 80] 



