2 BULLETIN 1301, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
Grain farming was practiced to a limited extent in the early eighties, 
but not until recent years has it been developed as the principal type 
of agriculture. Livestock farming is still an important factor in the 
agricultural development of western North Dakota. This is espe- 
cially true in sections having large areas of untillable land. Dairy 
farming is carried on in a limited way in several localities. Dairy 
farming is becoming an important factor in working out a permanent 
system of agriculture for the region. 
The project creating the Northern Great Plains Field Station was 
started in the summer of 1912. During that year the site for the 
station was selected and plans for the construction of buildings and 
the organization of work were formulated and approved. In working 
out the plans, consideration was given the results obtained by 
similar stations operated by the Canadian Government and by the 
State agricultural experiment stations. 
The station farm consists of 1,280 acres, 250 of which are under 
cultivation and devoted mainly to experimental work, while 640 
acres of native sod are used for the cooperative grazing experiment. 
The station buildings consist of an office, seed house, mess house, 
bunk house, two combined horse barns and implement sheds, and 
four residences. The residences are occupied by the station superin- 
tendent and the three men in charge of the departments. No 
provision is made for furnishing nouses for men detailed at the station 
by cooperative offices or assistants or laborers. Severalsmall buildings 
on the farm are used for various purposes, such as fumigating trees, 
soil work, and storage of special equipment and supplies. 
CLIMATE 
Climatic data covering a period of 48 years are available for this 
immediate region. The United States Weather Bureau has published 
the climatological data recorded at Bismarck, N. Dak., for the years 
from 1875 to 1920, inclusive.? Bismarck is located on the east side 
of the Missouri River, only about 5 miles distant from the Northern 
Great Plains Field Station at Mandan. Meteorological observa- 
tions were begun at the field station during the summer of 1913, but 
the records for that year were incomplete and have not been used. 
The temperature in this section reaches extremes in both winter 
andsummer. The lowest temperature recorded in the nine years from 
1914 to 1922, inclusive, was —45° F. in January, 1916, at Bismarck, 
and the highest was 110° F. in July 1921, at the field station. The 
average yearly maximum temperature at the field station for the 
9-year period from 1914 to 1922, inclusive, was 52.6° F., and the 
average yearly minimum for the same period was 29.7°. The 
average Maximum and minimum temperatures for the six months 
from April to September, inclusive, for the 9-year period were 74.7° 
and 47° F., respectively. The coldest months are January and 
February and the warmest July and August. 
Table 1 presents data showing the frost-free period. The average 
number of frost-free days during the 10-year period from 1913 to 
1922, inclusive, the period the field station has been in operation, was 
134. The range was from 104 to 165 days. The average date of the 
2 United States Department of Agriculture. Weather Bureau. Summary of the climatological data 
for the United States, by sections. Reprint of Section 31, Western North Dakota. 14 p., map. [1922] 
Maran ayes 
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