The Beaver herald. [volume] (Beaver, O.T. [Okla.]) 1895-1923, 1909-06-17
Tells How He Did Ii

The following article on dry farming
was given before the dry farming con-
gress in Cheyenne, Wyoming, by f. r.
Parsons Of Parker, Colorado. whe has
not had crop failure in thirty years.
People are apt TO think that dry
farm work is too laborious and.too in
;ricate opay well, but the fact is. it is
about half the work Of irrigating; we
,an do farm work nearly every month
in the year. western prices are the
highest IN the United States and the
cost Of dry farm land is mere nothing.
In wet years or dry, the moisture al
ways comes sooner or later. We have
to do our part by conserving it. and
the requisite knowledge is anybody's
for the asking, N thirty years never
lost tree from drouth, or had to buy
pound Of hay for my stock.
plowed the sod clean under eight
inches deep, although it sometimes
took two days to plow an acre !;
disced and narrowed il until it was as
fine as old ground and seeded it to fall
rye and wheat, twenty and thirty
pounds to the acre respectively
The neighbors shook their heads
and said ] was crazy to plow
deep, that it would never rot, but it
rotted beautifully, never bothered me
again, and the people came for miles
around TO see the cross, which grew
from five TO seven feet high
In the spring | planted corn, some
on a hill, also a garden and small or
chard for family use, plowing as deep
as possible and following from Febru-
AIRY to planting time. also put in
five acres of alfalfa, ten pounds to the
acre, which made a stand.
In gardening, plow or spade as deep
as possible, then plant everything in
trenches six or eight inches wide and
three inches deep; fill all the trenches
gradually, as the plants grow up. By
doing so their roots are established at
good depth, out of the way of the
heat and ~drouth. Allow plenty oi
rom, more room means more moist.
ure. Tender lettuce can be raised all
summer by shading with a board. Ru.
barb. asparagus and onions are good
drouth resisters and will come from
the roots every season. Gooseberrie,
and currants grow wild all over tn,
west and can be raised by anybody
Any one can have wild plum orchard
by planting the seeds in the fall II
will come into bearing in three or foul
years. Watermelons, musk melons
summer and winter squash also belonl
to the dry farm garden.
At the end of the first season | haG
all the rye, hay, winter wheat, fodder
and corn could possibly use also 1
cellar full of garden stuff. kept the
cows in milk as soon as the grass be-
gan to go by feeding green sucker,
from the COW patch.
The following season, after breakinl
the sod managed to get the plov
down about a foot and the moistur,
Immediately began to gain in the sub
soil and in few years had a perma
nently moist sub-stratum of three OF
four feet. When the dry years Of %;
and '9i appeared, with a precipitation
Of only S and 8 inches, respectively
the shrinkage in some OF the crops did
not amount to bushel an acre below
the average.
Right here we touch on the philoso
ply of dry farming. We all know that
the roots of a crop will not by any
chance penetrate the snbsoil unless il
is moist. In moist sub-soils, which
can be secured only by deep plowinl
and following have found the root,
of cereals three to four feet under
ground.
This is the most significant fact in
dry farming operations, and its value
can hardly be estimated in the pro.
duction OF crops when we come to
compare the amount OF plant food sup
piled by three feet of soil to that sup.
piled by seven inches.