UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
DEPARTMENT BULLETIN No. 1427 

Washington, D. C. 
m. 
August, 1926 
DRY-LAND GARDENING AT THE NORTHERN GREAT PLAINS FIELD STATION, 
MANDAN, N. DAK. 
By T. K. Killand, Senior Scientific Aid, Office of Dry-Land Agriculture, Bureau 
of Plant Industry 
CONTENTS 
Page 
Introduction 1 
Climate 2 
Gardening experiments 3 
Experimental methods 3 
The rotation system 3 
The varieties used 5 
Experimental data 6 
Page 
Suggestions for gardening on the northern 
Great Plains. 14 
Selecting the site 14 
Preparing the soil 15 
Planting schedule 15 
Special cultural methods 15 
Equipment 16 
Conclusions 16 
INTRODUCTION 
The Northern Great Plains Field Station is located at Mandan, 
N. Dak., in the eastern part of the northern Great Plains. It is 
one of & number of experiment stations at which the Office of Dry- 
Land Agriculture of the Bureau of Plant Industry is studying the 
possibilities of agriculture under dry-land conditions. 
The station was established in 1913, when ground was broken and 
buildings were erected. Horticultural investigations were begun on 
a small scale the same year, but the main work was not started until 
1914. 
From 1914 to 1918 the work in gardening, one of the branches of 
horticulture, consisted mainly in testing varieties of vegetables com- 
monly grown under field culture by various cultural methods. From 
data obtained during these years and from other experience in gar- 
dening by the writer a system of vegetable culture under dry-land 
conditions for farms in this region was evolved and has been in opera- 
tion since 1920. 
It is the object of this bulletin to outline the system followed and 
to discuss the results that have been obtained with it, thus showing 
in a general way how vegetable growing can be fairly successful 
under dry-land conditions in the northern Great Plains. 
98477°— 26f 
