The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-12-07
Governnent's Analysis Of
 NeU Lands Of tue NorthUest

adapted to dry farming by reason of their favorable texture and structure and covering the greater portion of the area surveyed, and of much less exten- sive bodies of heavy clay loams and clnys usually well adapted to crop pro- auction when well drained and proper ly cultivated, but owing to unsuccess- ful treatment often considered of in- ferior crop producing capacity.
 The influence of topography as q lim- iting factor in the adaptation of the soils to agriculture and to grazing pur- poses was also found to be an extreme ly important matter.
 Less than a decade ago. practically the entire area covered by the survey consisted of unbroken prairie. upon which the only industries which had gained foothold were the ranging of stock and the desultory collecting of bunaio bones for the use of fertilizer factories of the East. Climatic condi- ttons were generally regarded as pro- hibitive of the production of crops and early attempts In farming the prairies received but scant eneouragement or were met by unfavorahle and not In- frequently hostile criticism upon the part of those engaged in the ranging of stock upon the public lands.
 @ owing to the natural productiveness of the soils and the ease with which the treeless and generally we'll drain ed praire tracts might be placed under cultivation to ready outlet afforded to products by construction of railway lines, and to the occurrence of favor able seasons. tho settlement of much of the area covered by the survey has taken place very rapidly In the southwestern part of the state the process of settlement with the advent of the homeseeker and settler. the building of towns and the opening of railway lines is now taking place, while in the eastern and older settled portions of the area surveyed the prai- ries have been transformed into we'll settled communities traversed by ex- cellent roads and marked by produc- tive farms and substantial farm build inBs.
 At present. however. nearly all the desirable publis lands have passed in- to private ownership or have been fil ed upon under the government home. | stead laws There still remain. par | ticularly in the southern and western portions of the area surveyed con- siderable areas of land subject to homestead entry. but in most cases such tracts are so broken by the oc- curence of buttes or other topographic forms of erosion characteristic of the Bad Land" districts as to render cul- tivation possible upon areas of but limited extent. Indications of such areas upon the maps prepared in the survey should prove of no little value to the future settler.
 owing to the foregoing conditions the period of most rapid settlement Is probably past and the future growth of the agricultural industries will of necessity take place more slowly and largely through purchase of private state or railroad lands. which can generally be secured at moderate prices. Moreover. owing to inefficient and short sighted methods of farming, the average yields of the present sta pie crops of wheathax. oats and other grains is in many sections suffering a decline. In consequence. the advan- | tages to be gained in the practice Of a system of summer following or of the substitutions of an occasional cul-