Los Angeles herald., 1909-10-25
Dry Farming Congress
Bv Frederic j. Haskin

TO be especially adapted 10 dry farm
ing operations.
The department of agriculture has a
corps of experts whose entire time is
devoted to the study of dry land agri-
culture. They are not carried away by
the enthusiasm which has been mani
tested in some quarters, but they are
convinced that the experiments being
carried on under the general definition
of dry farming will result in the addi-
tion to the productive agricultural area
of the United States of a vast amount
of territory.
The region in which these expert
ments are being made and in which
the government is making its investiga-
tions is bounded on the east by the
ninety-eighth meridian, on the north
by the Canadian boundary, on the south
by the thirty-second parallel, which
comedies with the southern boundary
of Mexico, and on the west by an If
regular line which marks approxi-
mately the contour of the 5O0O-foot level
of altitude in the fothills of the Rocky
mountains. In this vast territory,
larger than Germany, the government
now maintains eleven experiment sta
tions for the investigation of methods
of dry land agriculture. These are
situated: One in Montana, two in North
Dakota, one in South Dakota, two in
Nebraska, two in Kansas, one in
Colorado and two in Texas. Through
these stations the government is gath
ering data which will show the number
of acres under cultivation, the amount
of rainfall in each section, the regu-
larity of the precipitation from year
to year, the yield per acre in various
grains and other incidental informa-
tion. 1t is not believed by the experts
that it will be possible to reach an
accurate conclusion as to the true value
of dry farming until this data has been
collected for a number of years.
Many of the most successful of dry
farming operations have owed their
prosperity, in part at least, to excess
sive rainfall. 1t is the purpose of the
dry farming methods to make agricul-
ture successful in regions having from
ten to twenty inches Of rainfall in the
year. This year one section where dry
land farming is carried on received
thirty inches of rainfall in the first
nine months of the year, and a great
deal of the crop was lost because there
was too much rain. That particular
section has had a great deal more rain
this year than has the state OF Virginia,
where farming operations are based
upon the theory of humid agriculture.
This, of course, is an exceptional case.
There is no doubt that the inves-
LEGATIONS being carried on by the dry
farming experts, and the development
of the science of moisture conservation
will add greatly to the productive agri-
cultural area of the country. Vast
regions in northern and western Texas
which twenty years ago were considered
to he barren desert are now being
profitably farmed. Every year now
agricultural tracts are being discovered
and brought under the control of the
plow.
One of the most interesting instances
of such discoveries is that of the Judith
basin in Montana. This valley was one
of the earliest settled sections of the
mountain state. Forty years ago
colony of pioneers moved westward
from the Mississippi valley over the
plains and settled themselves in this
basin Graded high up on the side of
the great range of the Rockies. They
built the little town of Lewiston and
devoted themselves to sheep raising.
After a generation had passed the rail-
road came, and the sheep, which had
always yielded them a good living, sud
denly made them rich. The land in the
basin was considered too high, too dry,
and too barren to be farmed
For forty years those farmers and
farmers sons had lived there without
any talk of attempting agriculture.
shepherds, in defiance of all known rules
of agriculture, bought a steam traction
engine and a gang Of plows, with
which he prepared several hundred
acres for seed. He sowed hard winter
wheat, while his neighbors considered
the advisability of having him exam
ined for insanity. He reaped sixty
bushels to the acre from his new-found
wheat field and brought to the Judith
basin an era of prosperity never
dreamed of, as we'll as adding many
square miles to the aggregate area of
Uncle Sans big farm. When it is re-
membered that the average yield per
acre in wheat growing states is some
what under twenty bushels, the Won
derful success of this mans dry farm
ing experiment may be appreciated,
1t is the belief of the men at the
head of the organization now holding
its meetings in Billings that the value
of the dry farming process to the
United States will be much greater
than the gold mines of Alaska and
Nevada. The work Of the dry farmer
is still largely experimental and the
situation demands the largest possible
extension of educational and scientific
facilities. Already the dust overcoat
has turned many thousand acres OF
desert into blooming and fruitful gar
dens It is not beyond belief that it
will vet bring all the great plains
under control of the sower and reaper
Tomorrow-NatiOnaI Good Roads Congress: