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dehorned white-face Hereford. Indeeed, all over the prairies of the West 

 and the plains of the South-west the Hereford is the dominant breed, 

 and is now largely displacing the shorthorn. The Hereford has been 

 found to mature earlier, has proved a better rustler, and seems to stand 

 the long hot days of summer better than the shorthorn. The entire 

 Panhandle may be characterised as a dry-farming country, there being 

 few streams of any note. Water is obtained by boring, and is generally 

 struck at depths of from 100 to 300 feet, but it seldom rises more than 

 a few feet. The soil in general is a loam of three to five feet in depth, 

 resting on a limestone formation. The grass is short and wiry, but succu- 

 lent,, and consists mainly of buffalo grass and grama. 



The Dry-land Experiment Station established by the National 

 Department of Agriculture is situated one mile and a half from the centre 

 of the town. The superintendent, Mr. John F. Ross, was good enough 

 to spend a whole afternoon in showing me over the station. Mr. Ross 

 worked on his father's farm until he was 25 years of age, and then 

 entered the Kansas State College of Agriculture and graduated Bachelor 

 of Science in Agriculture. Entering the Civil Service, he was first 

 appointed Instructor in Agriculture to the Indians in the Department of 

 the Interior, and later transferred to his present post. 



The work in dry-farming under the auspices of the Department of 

 Agriculture was begun in the Panhandle in 1903, and two years later Mr. 

 Carlton, United States Cerealist, established this station. It was taken 

 on a five years' lease, and at the time of my visit was about to be vacated, 

 as the owner, an Amarillo citizen, had decided to resume his property and 

 cut it up into town lots. The station comprises 100 acres, of which 60 

 are in cultivation. It is purely a dry-land station — no stock being kept. 

 Water is purchased at the rate of 15 cents per barrel, being hauled out 

 of town and delivered at the station for that price. Fortunately, it is 

 only needed for drinking and domestic purposes, and to supply the 

 evaporation tank, of which I shall speak later. 



This station is subsidised by the Federal Government, which spends* 

 on its upkeep about $4,000 per annum. The State, as yet, has not con- 

 tributed anything to its support. The staff consists of a superintendent, 

 and two hired unskilled labourers at $50 (£10) per month (without board). 

 Teams have to be hired for ploughing, harvesting, etc. This costs $5 (£1) 

 per day for two horses and a driver. 



The average precipitation (rain, snow, hail) at Amarillo for the last 

 seventeen years has been 22.03 inches. The rain falls mostly from April 

 to October inclusive — that is, during the growing season (spring and 

 summer). In winter very little rain falls, and during the past seven 

 months only 2.4 inches fell. 



The soil is a chocolate coloured clay loam from three and a half to 

 five feet deep, resting on a limestone formation of one to two feet thick, 

 below which is a compact clay. Moisture does not seem to rise by 

 capillarity from the deeper layers below. 



The main lines of work at this station consist in varie.tal tests with 

 grains, manner of cultivation, ploughing tests, seeding tests, effect of 

 environment, sorghum smut experiments, nursery work with selected 

 grains, and rotation of crops — in a word, the growing and adaptation of 

 dry-land cereals to the Panhandle country. In the selection of grain the 

 method is simple. A single head is selected, increased year by year for 

 a period of three years. If after three years' test it gives promise of 



