Alfalfa.
Agriculture from 1880 to 1887. The year 1880 found the people of Kansas full of hope and courage, and from that time until the drouth of 1887 agriculture developed rapidly. It was a period of new ideas and new methods. Millions of additional acres were brought into cultivation. The principal crops, corn, wheat, and oats, were each greatly increased. Fields of timothy, clover, orchard grass, and blue grass were planted in the central counties, and even farther west. Soil that a few years before had been considered unfit for farming was now producing crops. The State was being rapidly settled, many miles of railroad were in operation, and the excellent crops did much to encourage the “boom” of 1885 to 1887.
Agriculture from 1887 to 1893. The period of good crops following the dry season of 1887 lasted for five years, and it was a time of great activity along many lines of agricultural advancement. By 1890 nearly 16,000,000 acres had been brought under cultivation. This area was almost double the areas under cultivation ten years earlier.
Western Kansas. Before 1890 most of the farming was done in the eastern and central parts of the State, the western part being considered poorly adapted to agricultural purposes. During the next few years, however, it was shown that wheat can be successfully raised clear to the Colorado line. The sorghum crops also proved to be well adapted to this section. The soil of western Kansas was found to be wonderfully fertile, needing only moisture to make it produce abundantly. A more thorough understanding of soil and climate has brought better methods of tillage, and this, together with a careful selection of crops, is making the yield much larger and more certain.
Irrigation from the Underflow.
Upper, water pumped into the reservoir by windmills.
Lower, water pumped into the reservoir by an engine.
Irrigation in Western Kansas. The possibilities of irrigation for this section of the country have long been given much consideration. For several years water from the Arkansas River was successfully used. Colorado, however, in developing irrigation, used so much of the water from the upper Arkansas that there was not a sufficient amount left for our State. Investigation resulted in the discovery of an underground water supply. This water, which is called the underflow, moves eastward from the Rocky Mountains through strata of gravel and sand. It offers to a large part of western Kansas a practically inexhaustible supply of water for irrigation. Wells are bored into this underflow and the water is pumped for irrigating purposes. Only a small part of western Kansas is under irrigation as yet, but experiments for the purpose of finding the best methods of utilizing the underflow are being carried on by individuals, by experiment stations, and by the State. Irrigation by pumping is bringing about a remarkable agricultural advancement in western Kansas.
Stacking Alfalfa.