Evening star., 1908-12-22
Big Farms and. Much Money
Needed to Make Them Pay.
CRUEL TO TEMPT POOR MEN
Stump Land in the Northwest Far
Better.
FARMERS ARE GROWING WISER
Great Progress in Agricultural Edu-
cation in All the
States.

cation in All the
States.
By WILLIAM f. CURTIS.
| Written for The Star and the Chicago Record
Herald.
! There is great deal Of inquiry and
| agitation in progress just now concern
| ing the material resources of the coun-
| try. There have been several conven-
tions in Washington lately to discuss sub
| iects of that sort. Several commissions
| appointed by the President are engaged in
| Investigations of conditions, prospects
! and possibilities. Agents of the Interior
| Department and the Agricultural Depart
| ment, the forestry service, the reclama
! ton service the agricultural experiment
| stations of the government and the uni
Nersities of several states are seeking
the truth and looking into the future to
| locate and define difficulties and dangers
| so that the development and the pros
perty of agricultural sections may not
be interrupted.
Dry Farming No Snap.
| These Investigations have disclosed
some facts which should be made known
to the public, and will doubtless appear
in official form. with official sanction, very
soon. For example. it is thought neces
sary to warn land-hungry people who
are taking up homesteads and buying
| small farms in the semi-arid regions OF
| western Kansas. eastern Colorado. wy
| omins, Utah and other states that dry
| farming Is a very critical proposition.
| 1t is also considered important that home
seekers should know that many million
Of be l.
| gated under any circumstances, because
| of lack of water, and that the prevention
of waste Of water is one of the most i'm
/ portant duties of the American people.
| One of the ablest agricultural experts
| in this country, who has recently made
| an investigation of the conditions In the
| dry farming section on the slopes of
| the Rocky mountains, says:
| II have been a pretty thorough stu
| dent of what is known as dry farming
and have urged farmers when moving
into the sem-arid Section-say, west OF
the ninetyninth meridian-to purchase
nothing less tlan a section or two sec
| tions and to combine stock growing with
dry farming and not to undertake 1t at
| all except with enough cash capital to
| carry them through a period of three
! years.
| Big Farms Needed.
| In Salt Lake City made special inquiry
| of the president of the Agricultural Col
| lege and others, who inform me that
dry farming has been practieed there
since 1865, and the average yield of the
land, which Is put in wheat each alter
nate year. is eight or nine bushels a
| year. The land, he said. soon needs
vegetable matter in order to maintain
| it's fertility. At Cheyenne l was told
| that the minimum of land needed for
| successful farming was 800 acres. and the
minimum capital $1,000; that while some
| will wit
| many would fail even with $4,000. but
5000 is required to be safe. The agri-
cultural experiment station sent out cir
| culars asking dry farmers as to the
amount of land required to make living,
! and the average given was 500 acres.
| "Over most of the territory west OF
| the ninety-ninth meridian there has been
so per cent of rainfall above the normal
| for the last three years The soil is
| rich. most Of 1t, at least: some of it is
very easily titled some of it is of adobe
| formation. which is hard soil to manage
| and should never be plowed at all The
| whole country from the national bound
| ary to and including the panhandle OF
| Texas has been exploited for the last
| three or four years by companies more
| or less closely affiliated with the rail-
| roads. who have purchased their land
| grants and proclaimed far and wide the
| doctrine that rain follows the plow, that
the east is moving west. and they are
| selling these lands, pleading that a home
| stead can be secured alongside at from
| So to $40 acre. They secure about a
! third payment down. which is about the
| original cost of the land, and take mort
! cages running at per cent interest for
| the balance.
Cruel to Send People There.
IF normal rainfall should return a
| lamity would strike this whole .ea from
the 99th meridian to the 1O3d meridian,
| the whole length of the country, that
| would be greater than the calamity that
| struck western Kansas and Nebraska in
the Sos. In fact. 1 believe the whole agri-
| cultural population, outside of the irriga-
| ton districts, would be driven back 200
miles, bankrupt and hopeless. The mort
| cages will be foreclosed on these lands,
and they will be converted into great
| ranches and the grasses allowed TO reseed
| themselves, which they will do in the
course of probably ten, fifteen or twenty
| years
II believe that dry farming on these
soils. other than the adobe and red clay
| sections, could be made profit a BILE by men
| of large means and of the highest skill,
by deep blowing, so to speak: by putting
a cistern under their farms, and by sub
soiling toput lid on it. thus by con
| tinuous cultivation growing crop of
winter wheat every other year. But to
send poor. iand-hungry people ont on to
| these lands as hOmesteaderS and to
the adjoining railroad lands at the prices
before mentioned is cruelty heartless. Men
| who have made II study for ten to
twenty years know the folly OF undertak-
ing to farm where nature never intended
anything but the steer the cow to
exist In their judgment. the homestead
laws should be amended as % permit
the farmers to homestead a section as in
tended in the kinkaid law. In this way
they could dry farm eighty acres or
quarter. leaving the rest in grass, OF
which II requires from fifteen to thirty
acres to support steer. and by so doing
they could make a living.
1.-The commission on country life. Of
which Prof. Bailey of Cornell University
is chairman: Henry Wallace of Iowa,
Kenyon L. Butterfeld, president of Mas
sachusetts College Of Agriculture: Wal
ter H. Page of North Carolina and other
we'll known gentlemen are members, has
investigated this subject thoroughly dur
ing recent journey through the west,
r and that portion of its report referring
to il will be especially important as a
warming to the ventursome pioneers who
are setting up their lares and penates on
the skirmish line Of the arabic land in the
west Whatever the commission may re-
port will be received with universal at
tention, because its ability, wisdom and
| disinterestedneSs are admitted.
Much Better Lands in Northwest
There is. naturally, much dissatisfac-
ton because the commission has not visit