Great Plains Area Research Articles

A Desirable Wartime Land Policy

INCE the war has vitally affected the use of the Nation's resources, it naturally follows that it should have concurrent effects on public policies concerning the land. From the long-time point of view, probably the most serious effect of war on the land is the heavy load it places on soils, forests and minerals. It was during World War I that wheat acreage began its great expansion in the Great Plains areas which later became the Dust Bowl. So far during World War II, however, there has been no tremendous expansion of crop acreages. Apparently about 356 million acres of crops were planted in 1942. This was an increase of about eight million acres over 1939, but was a smaller acreage than was planted in any preceding year of the thirties. There is some cause for concern over increases in acreages of row crops, especially of peanuts in the South. The effect of these increases may be to bring back into crop production erodible lands which had been abandoned for that purpose and were on their way back to grass or woodland.

Some Artifact Sites of Early Man in the Great Plains and Adjacent Areas

During the past fourteen collecting seasons, paleontological expeditions of the University of Nebraska State Museum have excavated a large number of sites which contained the bones of extinct mammals associated with the artifacts of Early Man. Many of these sites have been reported but some data have not been published. All of the studies of Early Man have been carried on from a paleontologic and stratigraphic point of view. It is hoped that a faunal and stratigraphic sequence connecting the Pleistocene and Recent will eventually be established, and that Early Man's relation to this sequence will be determined. It is the purpose of this brief paper to summarize the work relating to Early Man which has been done by the field parties of the University of Nebraska State Museum since 1937. The explorations have been confined chiefly to Nebraska, New Mexico, Texas, and Wyoming. Since the studies of the Nebraska sites have, for the most part, been published, the discussion will be confined to the sites in the latter three states.

Agricultural Land in Proportion to Agricultural Population in the United States

IN the agricultural geography of any area two sets of factors are of basic importance: on the one hand, the extent and productivity of the cultivable on the other, the agricultural population. These factors have been measured and mapped in detail for the United States in many different ways, notably on the dot maps published by the United States Department of Agriculture. Such maps, however, tell us little of the relation between the two sets of factors, and it is precisely this relation that is of greatest importance. If the density of farm population varied directly with the productivity of the land, that is, if farms were commonly small in fertile areas and large in poorer areas, we could recognize a principle of compensation as a result of which the fundamental basis of rural economy was more or less equivalent throughout any country. Actually the facts in many cases are just the reverse. For example, the farms in the Kentucky mountains are smaller, not only in extent of land but even in total extent, than those in the Bluegrass region of the same state, and the largest farms in the maturely agricultural areas of the United States are found in the heart of the Corn Belt, in districts of highest crop yields per acre. In order to study this situation for the whole country, and particularly to suggest a basis for more detailed studies of individual areas, the maps here presented were prepared from the county statistics of agriculture of the United States census of I930 (Figs. I, 3, 4). They depict three different attributes of the agricultural land, in each case in proportion to the rural farm population (as distinct from the total rural population). They provide a rough picture of the fundamental situation, namely the amount and productivity of agricultural land per unit of agricultural population in the different regions and districts of the country. No one of the maps alone is adequate, nor indeed are all three together entirely adequate, because of a number of irrelevant factors, as well as inaccuracies, in the basic figures. All three of the maps are affected by the fact that the statistics of farm population take no account of families supported only in part by farming and in part by other activities, notably in mining and urbanized districts. The most reliable of the maps is probably the one showing the ratio of land to farm population. Arable land is the total of cultivated land and cultivable pasture in the census. This ratio, however, takes no account of the differences in productivity within the category of arable land; the very high figures in the Great Plains areas represent large farms on land of very low productivity. On the other hand, there is no allowance for the use of noncultivable land, an important factor in the productivity of the land in the dairy areas of the North and all the mountain areas. The ratio of the value of farmland (not including buildings) to farm population would perhaps be the most significant of the three ratios used if the figures could be taken as entirely reliable, which is hardly the case. Least reliable, perhaps, are the figures for values of products, since these are based in large part on estimates of products consumed on the farm, of which neither the amounts nor the values can be accurately determined. In both of these cases of ratios based on values the figures vary greatly from year

Tolerance Levels of Seleniferous Grains in Laying Rations

LOW hatchability of eggs produced in certain sections has been closely associated with the selenium content of the grains used in the laying rations. As reviewed by Moxon (1937), selenium has been found in the soils of at least 12 states of the Great Plains and Rocky Mountain areas, as well as in some foreign countries, and is often taken up by certain plants and grains and used in live stock feeding. That considerable harm may arise from continuous use of selenium in the diet has been pointed out. Investigations having a particular bearing upon the experiments reported herein include the reports of Franke and Tully (1935), Tully and Franke (1935), and Poley et al (1937).The objectives of this experiment were to determine:1. The amount of selenium, laying hens will tolerate without affecting hatchability.2. Whether or not levels of selenium too small to reduce hatchability might affect .

Why the Dust Bowl?

So much has been written, said, and pictured of a sensational nature concerning the Dust Bowl that a few prose statistics may be useful in gaining a better perspective of the situation. Drought and dust are not new in the Great Plains area. Judging from the meager historical records available, the drought of recent years is not long or severe. Likewise, history teaches that the extreme droughty conditions of recent years is not likely to be permanent. Unfortunately history does not tell us when to expect a return to more normal weather conditions.

Readjustments in Organization in the Northern Great Plains Area in View of the Outlook for Agriculture

Readjustments in Organization in the Northern Great Plains Area in View of the Outlook for Agriculture

5. Crop Rotation in the Great Plains Area

5. Crop Rotation in the Great Plains Area

Some Structural Features of the Plains Area of Alberta Caused by Pleistocene Glaciation

Introduction Some anomalous structural features in the Great Plains area of Alberta have been known for a long time, but in recent years they have come into considerable prominence because of the prospect of commercial oil pools being associated with them. The study of one of the most conspicuous of these supposed uplifts, together with the result of wells recently drilled in the vicinity, indicate fairly conclusively that there has been no uplifting of the formations in the area, and that the abnormally steep dips and local folds and faults are the result of the thrust of the great ice-sheet which moved southward over this area in Pleistocene time. The object of this paper is to demonstrate, if possible, two points, namely: (1) That the intense deformation of the beds observed at Mud Buttes and similar localities is entirely superficial and without deep-seated significance and in no way connected genetically . . .

Farm Management as Insurance for the Northern Great Plains Area

Farm Management as Insurance for the Northern Great Plains Area

Eleodes Opaca Say, an Important Enemy of Wheat in the Great Plains Area

Eleodes Opaca Say, an Important Enemy of Wheat in the Great Plains Area

Natural Vegetation as an Indicator of the Capabilities of Land for Crop Production in the Great Plains Area . By Homer Leroy Shantz, Physiologist, Alkali and Drought Resistant Plant Breeding Investigations. Bulletin 201, Bureau of Plant Industry, U. S. Department of Agriculture. Washington. 1911. Pp. 100; 6 plates and 23 text figures.

<i>Natural Vegetation as an Indicator of the Capabilities of Land for Crop Production in the Great Plains Area</i> . By Homer Leroy Shantz, Physiologist, Alkali and Drought Resistant Plant Breeding Investigations. Bulletin 201, Bureau of Plant Industry, U. S. Department of Agriculture. Washington. 1911. Pp. 100; 6 plates and 23 text figures.