The Washington herald., 1907-05-19
Science of Dry Farming
BY FREDERIC J. HASKTN
BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN.

From the Canadian border on the north
TO the Rio Grande on the south, and from
the Rocky Mountains westward almost 20
the sea, lies that great strip OF land
| known 10 geOgraphers as arid America.
Twelve hundred miles long, and 1900 miles
wide, II comprises an area equal TO about
one-third that OF continental United
States, exclusive OF Alaska Here lie vast
domains Of public lands, 6O0,000G 600 acres
In all, besides railroad grants and school
lands and 100000 Of these acres are
known as desert land. Stretches OF daz-
zling white sand, overhung at times with
alkali dust, and broken here and there
by purple mountains, bare and wind
swept, this so-called desert land has been
condemned for a century by settlers be
cause OF its inhospitable aspect and its
unresponsiveness to the ordinary methods
Of farming. Hopeful men have come I'm
Creakng praire schoOners out Of the East,
have built little homes on the desert rim,
have tried the old methods Of tilling this
dry soil. have seen their wives and chill
dren go sad-eyed and hungry when the
crops failed and have gone CrOaking back
into the East again. discouraged and dis
heartened. cursing the desert that lured
them on with its mirage Of harvest sea-
sons. only TO disappOint them.
Yet in this desert country there lies,
so scientists and practical farmers tell
US, the possibilities for fulfilling the old
Biblical prophecy that the waste places
may be made glad and that the desert
will blossom as a rose. II will need no
miracle 20 prove this, and little outside
influence 10 bring IL about II will mean
only a scientific use Of the materials ma
ture already has at hand In ordinary
agricultural methods, such as were prac-
ticed by our fathers, and their fathers be
fore them. II was demanded that nature
be prOdigal in her gifts Of rain and mois-
ture, and when nature was kind, per
sOnal efTortdeCreased, and the crops were
satisfactory. Because Of this old depen-
dence on rain those who went 70 the
West and tried farming In the land Of
little rain soon grew discouraged for the
average annual precipitation IN the foot
hills Of the Rockies is only l4g3 inches
Yet. in the light Of newer experiments.
il has been found that crops can be raised
on an average rainfall OF ten inches. max
ing this precipitation really nearly three
inches over what is needed
This new method by which the desert
land is 10 be redeemed IS known as dry
farming. and its principle is the very sim
pie one OF conserving every particle Of
moisture that falls during the year, not
In large reservoirs or behind expensive
concrete dams. but in the soil itself. A
year before a crop is 20 be planted the
farm land is plowed deeply with special
machinery Strong disk plows not only
pulverIze the subsoil, but pack il into
firm bed through which the conserved wa
ter may not sink. and through which the
excessive salts that usually lie four or five
feet below the surface may not rise by
evaporation TO burn and blight vegeta- !
ton.
On this subsoi the surface soil is pull
verized 10 such fneness by special ma
chinery that il seems II must have been
done by the fingers. This makes a mulch
through which rain and melted snow may
percolate 10 rest on the packed subsoil
beneath but through which no moisture
can rise. 1t demonstrates the physical |
law Of capillary attraction, for moisture
most easily rises through moist chan !
nels. just as oil rises more quickly in a
lamp wick that has been saturated IN oil
than 4 does IN a dry wick Lecturers in
their theory have repre-
sented the damp sUUsoil with a lump Of
loaf sugar sprinkled over with powdered /
sugar. When the lump is wet the powder
remains dry.