Bisbee daily review., 1909-08-10

William E. Curtis, the well known newspaper correspondent. has been travelling in what is known as the arid west, where the. rainfall is about seventeen inches per year Or less, and has been telling what he sees of prac- tical farming there in series of in teresting letters to the Chicago Rec. ord-Herald. In a letter from Lusk, Wyoming. dated July 31, this year, he says:
 ".The public lands, where there is moisture enough for ordinary farm ing. have practically all been taken up, but there is still an enormous area of unoccupied pubic domain which. until recent years. was consid cred worthless except for pasture. Patience, intelligence and industry have been able to produce from that dry soil crops of grain and vegetables equal in quantity. and many think superior in quality. to those produced either by ordinary methods of cultiva- ton or by irrigation.
 Thousands and ten thousands of land-hungry people. chiefly the over flow of the agricultural states of the central west. are going out into the Dakotas. Nebraska. Wyoming. Colo rado, Utah. Arizona and other sec tions of the semi-arid belt, entering the homsteads or buying lands and establishing homes. and taking their chances for success in dry farming. Most of them succeed: many fail. The reasons for success and for failure are equally apparent. and men of ex- per,ence can explain the causes in every case.
 The land laws of the United States were amended at the recent session of Congress so that homesteader can now enter 320 acres of dry land. instead of 160 acres as before, be cause all authorities agree that it is difficult, if not impossible for any farmer to make a living upon less. the fundamental principle of that method which brings success is to cultivate One soil thoroughly every year, and to crop it every other year. That is. to allow the moisture of two successive years to become absorbed in the soil before the seed is planted. but doctors differ on every subject There is no point upon which every body agrees.
 .The Agricultural department at Washington under that grand old Scotchman, James Wilson. has done more to educate aud improve the con ditions and methods of the farmers of the United States than all other forces combined. and has not failed to furnish instruction and admonition upon every question that can possibly arise in the experience of the Ameri- can farmer.
 The dry farmers held a convention at Cheyenne not long ago. and they hold another at Billings. Mont. from ,Ocr. 26 to Oct 2S inclusive. This will not only be an institute for dry farm ing instructors and dry farming far. mers, but the managers promise to have the greatesst display of dry farming products that was ever seen. Exhibits are already pledged from thirteen states.
 Farmers institutes everywhere in this section are making speciality Of dry farming; the Agricultural De partment at Washington has several experimental stations in each arid state. at which a great work is being carried on The hundreds of agf1cul- tural papers publish results which have been accomplished and furnish information, instruction and advice. The railways which run through dry farming territory have special agents travelling about delivering lectures to the public and visiting the farm CTS privately ir order to encourage them in their work and to insure good crops as far as possible, and met on the cars today Dr. E. w. Hunt oi