Shoshone journal. [volume] (Shoshone, Idaho) 1884-1931, 1908-08-28
Without Irrigation
Good Crops of Wheat Be-
ing Raised by Dry
Farming System
Yields of 30 to so Bushels per Acre
in Oneida County with same
Conditions as Here

Between American Falls and Rockland
in the northern part of Oneida county
thousands of acres of wheat have been
raised this season that promise yield
OF from thirty to fifty bushels per acre
without a particle of irrigation but
simply by the system Of cultivation call
Cd dry farming Some of this was
winter wheat but probably the greater
portion was of the spring variety.
1t seems that growing wheat in that
locality by the system of dry farming
was begun on a small scale some six
years ago and the yield obtained was
twenty three bushels per acre. This
was so encouraging that larger acre
age was undertaken the following sea-
son and the yield per acre was still
better than at first And the acreage
has been increased every year since,
and strange as it may seem, the aver
age yield per acre has also increased
with each recurring season.
As a result of this experience the dry
farming industry in that section of
Idaho has received a wonderful ina
petus.
The encouraging feature of this re-
port is that the Oneida county region
Of dry farming is in the same latitude
and has about the same elevation as
the southern part of Lincoln county,
- +,,-o,,+,, fo,,r ;loe ;s oil tt,a dicfapoa
that separates the two counties.
In the absence of accurate weather
reports from Lincoln county for the
past six years, no exact comparison
can be made between the annual rain
fau Of the northern part of Oneida
county where the dry farming expert
ments have been carried on and the
southern part of Lincoln county where
climatic conditions are practically the
same, but for the future this can be
done, as a government cooperative OBJ
server has been located in Shoshone
since last March. In this connection it
is taken for granted that accurate mea-
surements of rainfall have been taken
at American Falls or Rockland during
the period covered by the dry farming
experiments.
There is another encouraging feature
connected with the subject ofdry farm
ing in the semi arid west and lhisis the
possibility Of an increased rainfall pro
duced by sientifc cultivation Of
soil hitherto barren and mproductive.
In recent reports from experiment (
stations located at or near Akron, Col I
orado, where dry farming has been
scientifically carried on for number Of /
years the statement is made that the
annual rainfall for the past three years
has been sixteen inches when the sup
position was that it had previously been
but little in excess of twelve inches.
At any rate the precipitation was
in excess of expectations and
much more than was necessary for sue
cessful dry farming. 1t has got to be
a common remark among the farmers
OF the Akron region that they do not
need irrigation for any crop except
grass.
1t is a well known fact in the semi
arid regions east of the Rocky noun
tains that cultivation of vast areas
oe land that were heretofore barren or
produced only buffalo grass, that while
the annual precipitation may not be in
creased the manner of the fall has been
radically altered In place of the VIC
lent and heavy raihfalls of the past the
showers come more often and more
gently thus allowing the cultivated soil
to absorb the entire precipitation in
stead of running it off as before. the
same results only in a reversed order
are observed where large areas of for
est lands are cleared away in mountain
regions where cultivation cannot follow y
the clearing. c
The application of these known con- i
iitions to the subject of dry farming in f
Lincoln county is obvious. The condi- T
tons of successful dry farming in G
Oneida comfy, Idaho, are practically v
the same. or similar, to those obtaining o
in Lincoln county. And if there IS any b
hing of fact in the proposition that the b
distribution of rainfall is made more b
sven and regular by the cultivation OF :.
arge tracts of wild or semi-barren land, n
hen it must follow that the irrigation t