Las Vegas daily optic. [volume] (Las Vegas, N.M.) 1880-1908, 1907-02-28

IN 9 The fSAa3EdS OF Ae b&F
Farming congress apoa my Fetnra
fruna The south e. seemed 10 me that.
excepting the addresses u Mr.. Isona'
hue. Mr. Campbell and . few others.
the proceedings ERE chiefly chaTae'
teri1ed by lack q knowledge II the
true inwaFdness III dry farming. by
The aolefal f~nFebodings ~ the weather
man. by the Authorizations u govern.
nsnt theorists. and the EapoFings Of
irEigafion enthusiasts.
There are many old&ime dry farm.
ers I'm the state who have made for.
tunes ut II. and n In a pity none Of
these we're summoned. Just to tell
ho~ II was done and give consistency
60 the meeting.
People living I'm cities hear very
little about any KIM III farming and
care les. Many living IN Denver are
under the impression that dry farming
started a year or two ago with the
publication Of the Campbell system.
whereas nothing could DO more or.
roneous. There has never been a
time In the history of Colorado when
successful dry farmers could not have
discovered, n the demand had been
forthcoming. The system Of one man
I'm nh important points IN the system
Of all. for climatic conditions drive ~
all into the same groove. and an In.
teliigent man naturally follows the
course 81 least resistance.
The only difference ! can see be.
tween our system In Colorado and
that OF Mr.. Campbell In Nebraska. In
that here We pillow deeper. since We
have less precipitation. and II We 70
TO Utah. where the precipitation runs
o. low ~ ten inches. Prot. Jardine will
tell Us 10 piow deeper yet.
Mr.. Eilwood Mead made sever no,
markabie statements without offering
~ substantiations whatever. One ol
them was that dry farming has no
method OF protecting the orchard In
times Of drouth. He also made 90
sentially the same remark about dr.,
farm crops.
We win take the trees first. as thai
In tho line OF work that | have beer
giving my special attention TO for th.
last twenty years. and have evolved
system gathered here. there, an.
everywhere. modified by the climati
conditions present In this state. b.
which any intelligent man may rails
shade trees. forest trees, or a bearinl
orchard In any county OF COLORADO
east or west OF the Rocky mountain
without a drop OF irrigation water.
In starting an orchard or a planta
ton Of trees we plow the ground a
least a foot, subsoil another six inches
" you can, but this Is hardly neces
sary where the precipitation is owe
is inches. When this land IL frs
plowed 1t IN usually pretty dry. bu
after n years summer following In o.
ordinary season of IL or Ia lnche
precipitation, the ground will be foun,
soaked with moisture two or tire
feet deep, from the top down. Thi
10 simply water bottled up by cultiva
ton for future use.
After these two or three feet Q
moist earth have been scured you ca
plant your trees with perfect safety
for II takes a whole year without
single drop OF rain TO dry out one foo
Of ground properly cultivated. accord
ing to this method. the cost OF whicI
is about one-tenth that Of irrigation
Therefore. we fully insure all GU
trees against a years drouth from tn
start, as we plant them two feet dee
to begin with. This is also part O
the system-not TO take any chances
Three years ago we made an add
ttion to the orchard Of 400 cherr,