Evening journal., 1909-12-07
DRY FARMING
SAVES MANY ACRES
Experiments Show Good Re-
suits Of Saving Slight
Rain Fall

ST. PAUL, Mimi, Dec. e-When
private and government irrigation in
the West has extended to the limits of
the available water supply, there Will
still remain 200,OO0.OO0 acres Of excel
lent land. rich in fertility and capable
Of producing crops, in districts where
rainfall is light and where irrigation
is impossible. What to be done with
this great empire?
DRY" farming has answered this
query, demonstrating that any land
with only ten inches of rainfall a year
can be made to grow crops. Such lands
exist, according to Secretary Wilson,
of the Agricultural Department. over
half of the United States. In al
most all Of these districts Of INSULT
Client rain supply the new method of
farming has gained a foothold and
proved It's worth. Here are a. few Of
the wonderful things dry" farming
has already done:
Near Billings, Mont, il has produced
forty-seven bushels Of wheat an acre
on lands a few years ago considered
absolutely worthless
On five experimental farms main
tanned by the Northern Pacific Railway
for five years it has produced a general
average of thirty-seven and a half
bushels of wheat, with other crops in
proportion.
BIG INCREASE 1 NYIELDS.
On twenty-one demonstration farms
in North Dakota, grain yields have
been increased from so to 100 per
cent.
on one western North Dakota expert
mental farm the new methods have
produced yields of forty-two bushels
of wheat. ninety bushels of oats and
$50 bushels of potatoes.
Dry" farming is a misnomer. Presi-
dent Louis W. Hill, of the Great
Northern Railway. has conducted an
energetic campaign this year against
the use of the term. urging that dry"
farming is not dry farming. but the
scientific application of intelligent
agriculture to exc out the natural rain
fall, and that farming in regions Of
scant precipitation would be impossible
without the natural rainfall and the
conservation Of the usual precipita-
ton.
DRY" farming is really an exceed
ingly simple matter In principle Crops
will grow If moisture can be had to
vitalize them. The dry" farmer seeks
two main objects. to prevent the loss
of natural rainfall through waste by
drainage and evaporation, and once the
natural rainfall has been saved to pro-
tect it and apply its as needed to his
crops.
SAVES THE RAINFALL.
To do this he plows his land, break
ing up the soil and leaving it in such
condition that the rain as it falls sinks
/ in. instead of draining off. To save
the moisture thus caught he employs
surface cultivation with special farm
machinery, which stirs the earth to a
depth of only two inches. A dust
blanket Is thus created, which pre-
vents evaporation and keeps the mois-
ture in the ground where it will help
the roots.
Summer following is extensively en-
ployed. and upon the same fields
plowed one summer and cropped the
next. it is proved that the average
yield for four or six years is much
greater than in many districts where
with plenty Of rainfall, the farmers
crop their lands yearly.
What this simple remedy will do i,
really marvellous. In eastern Mon.
tana this year wheat stood shoulder.
high on dry farms, rye stood equally
high. thickset and strong, and really
wonderful crops of potatoes. beets and
garden vegetables were grown, and the
potatoes from dry farms are Of excep.
tional color, clean and free from seal
and rot.