PLAINS BULLETINS 
4 
failure and gave a bad name to the Plains. With tilller under¬ 
standing, a more just appreciation of the capabilities is being ob¬ 
tained. 
In 1893 the Legislature caused a branch Station to be started 
near Cheyenne Wells. The trials for the first few years were 
under the hope of finding the means of growing the same crops 
grown on an eastern farm. As the failures were many, and each 
from whatever cause meant the loss of a year's work, the experi¬ 
ments on this line were both costly and time-consuming. They 
resulted, however, in indicating such crops as might be partially 
or wholly successful. During the first few years, Mr. J. B. Rob¬ 
ertson was superintendent, and was succeeded by Mr. J. E. Payne, 
a graduate of the Kansas Agricultural College. The results of the 
first few years are published in the Annual Report of the Experi¬ 
ment Station for 1900, and also as an excerpt in “Results of Six 
Years Trials of the Plains.” When the Station was organized, it 
was expected that the State would make appropriations for its 
maintenance, but it did not and the expense fell upon the Hatch 
fund from the General Government. The Department of Agri¬ 
culture has ruled that this National appropriation could not be 
used to maintain a sub-station. 
When the present Director took charge of the Experiment 
Station it was evident that it was time to change the method of 
investigation. It was found that there were many settlers on the 
plains who were more or less successful. Mr. Payne was set free 
from the confining duties at the sub-station, provided with suitable 
field equipments to visit the settlements to learn their successes 
and failures, and especially to study the causes, whether due to 
crops, to local condition of soil or rain-fall, or to a personal ele¬ 
ment of a skilful and persistent leader. A great part of the Sum¬ 
mers of 1901, ’02 and '03 were spent in the field, mostly between 
the Platte and Arkansas Rivers. Some reconnaissance trips were 
also made South of the Arkansas and North of the Platte. 
The previous work of the farm at Cheyenne Wells, though 
unsuccessful as a fanning enterprise, was of great value in prepar¬ 
ing for this work on the plains. It has already led to the publi¬ 
cation of Bulletin 77 on “Unirrigated Lands in Eastern Colorado;” to 
Press Bulletins, 16, 17 and 18, on the “Prairie Dog as a Range Pest,” 
“Trialsof Macaroni Wheat,” and “Crops for Unirrigated Lands,” as 
well as to the present series of Bulletins. The Station has kept 
closely in touch with some of the Communities and the active in¬ 
dividuals in the communities as mentioned in Bulletin 77. It has 
distributed Macaroni Wheat to many settlers on the plains in small 
quantities, and through the aid of the Department of Agriculture, 
to a number in quantities sufficient to plant several acres with 
good success. 
