32 



and which was donated by Washington County to the National Govern- 

 ment for experimental work. The citizens of Akron and other interested 

 persons raised a sum of $3,000 (£600) for the erection of buildings on the 

 station. The equipment and other necessaries were put up by the 

 Department of Agriculture. The sum expended annually is roughly 

 $0,000 (£1,200) including salaries, labour, new equipment, repairs, and 

 improvements. 



The staff of the station consists of the superintendent, the specialist 

 in grain investigations, a foreman, and two hired men at $50 (£10) per 

 month without board. The Superintendent, Mr. J. E. Payne, was brought 

 up on a farm in eastern Kansas, and graduated as Master of Science 

 from the Kansas State Agricultural College. It was of interest to learn 

 that Mrs. Payne was also a graduate of this institution, having taken the 

 same degree as her husband. Besides the 67 acres above mentioned, an 

 additional 160 acres, owned by the State of Colorado^ is being used con- 

 jointly by the United States Forest Service and the Bureau of Plant 

 Industry. It will thus be seen that this station holds its land in fee 

 simple which, as I have already observed, is of the greatest importance in 

 experimental work. 



Work was started on 21st June, 1907, when the prairie sod was first 

 turned over. The average rainfall varies from fifteen to eighteen inches. No 

 irrigation is possible, and it is in every sense of the word a dry-farm. 

 The soil is a sandy loam with a sandy subsoil. Water has been struck 

 at 90 feet on the station. The general plan of work comprises cereal 

 work, breeding by selection, crop rotation, horticulture and forestry,, 

 drought-resistant plants and forage crops adapted to the country, together 

 with various meteorological studies, and work in soil physics. 



At present there have been erected a six-roomed dwelling, a barn,, 

 seed house and laboratory, a blacksmith shop, and a machinery shed. I 

 found the same implements here as at the Amarillo Station, with one or 

 two extra, such as a John Deere sulky plough, with a harrow attachment, 

 a Demster five-disc drill for seeding between corn-rows (maize-rows). This 

 drill is widely used in western Kansas for seeding wheat between the 

 rows in corn (maize) fields before the stalks are removed. 



Another implement worth noting is the lister. The practice of listing 

 is very common in Kansas and Nebraska and other Western States. A 

 lister is a double mould-board plough with the land sides set together. 

 The seed is sown directly in the furrow made by this plough. 

 I am now speaking of old land after the sod has been broken 

 up. Consequently with a good team and one lister, a man can plough £nd 

 plant nine acres per day ; whereas he could only plough two to three 

 acres per day with an ordinary mould-board plough. Later, the ridges 

 left by the lister are gradually levelled. Listing is of advantage in 

 enabling the crop to root more deeply and so withstand the drought 

 better. It is not practicable north of Nebraska, because the deep plant- 

 ing results in too late harvests, which are apt to be frosted. No live stock 

 are kept on this station except five work horses and some fowls. 



Revenue. — A little wheat and forage is sometimes sold ; but no 

 revenue is expected. The period is too short to speak of results. The 

 work so far was simply preparing the ground and getting read}' for 

 experiments. However, it may be said that the Durum wheat 

 (Beloturka and Kubanka) have given the best results, the Kherson and 

 Sixty-day oats and Hull-less barleys. Of the sorghums, Early Amber. 

 Minnesota Amber (black), and Red Amber have proved the main forage 



