For that purpose explorers
were sent over the earth, who returned with great numbers of new
plants or varieties of old plants, some of which, such as the durum
wheats, have shown themselves of great value in American
agriculture. The Bureaus of Plant Industry, Soils, Weather, and
Chemistry have all from the first given considerable attention to
the problems of the arid region. The Weather Bureau, long
established and with perfected methods, has been invaluable in
guiding investigators into regions where experiments could be
undertaken with some hope of success. The Department of Agriculture
was somewhat slow, however, in recognizing dry-farming as a system
of agriculture requiring special investigation. The final
recognition of the subject came with the appointment, in 1905, of
Chilcott as expert in charge of dry-land investigations. At the
present time an office of dry-land investigations has been
established under the Bureau of Plant Industry, which cooperates
with a number of other divisions of the Bureau in the investigation
of the conditions and methods of dry-farming. A large number of
stations are maintained by the Department over the arid and semiarid
area for the purpose of studying special problems, many of which are
maintained in connection with the state experiment stations.
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