Daily Arizona silver belt., 1909-11-26
PRACTICAL POINTS BROUGHT OUT AT TIE LATE FOURTH
 DRY FARMING CONVENTION

review of the proceedings of the Fourth Dry Farming congress, which met re- gently at Billings, Mont. discloses that in this meeting there was concentrated the zeal and intelligence of the bright est and brainiest men interested in the largo development of the arid and semi arid districts of the world. The care, ful and intelligent settlement of the dry lands of the western United States means infinitely more to the ultimate advantage of the entire nation than any other movement before the people today. Not only the commercial interests of the western states but the transpOr' tation companies have awakened to the fact that the planting of homesteaders on the western lands without instruc- ton in the methods of meeting Che problems of dry land farming, only invites failure In the Dry Farming congress are centered the efforts of sci entifc farmers, government officials, theoretical and experimental agricultur- alists and practical farmers, to bring before the settlers every item of in formation that will help them to sue eeed The cosmopolitan character of the congress as it convened at Billings showed the broadening of its scope and the enlargement of its facilities for gathering information regarding dry land farming in every part of the world. It developed an institute fea- ture which was a practical educational branch of the convention. Prof. H. w. Campbell, Prof. Thomas Shaw, Prof. N. F.. Hansen. Prof. A. F.. Chamberlain and other eminent teachers of practical agriculture met the farmers in these in- stitute sessions and the result was the bringing to the hundreds who attended the sessions and to the thousands who will read the proceedings, information of immense value in helping to work out the problems of the dry land farms.
 In the comment on the recent Dry Farming congress at Billings, Mont, there is tendency to emphasize the more local benefits arising from such meeting, auch as the immigration that will result from exploitation of lands in the dry farming regions There is another larger side to the subject of dry farming and this was brought out in the many excellent addresses and papers presented at the Billings meeting. The great significance of the dry farming movement is in it's efforts to educate the farmers in those meth Ods of agriculture which will enable them to increase the produetiveness of their acres. Governor Norris of Mon- tana. former president of the Dry Farm. ing congress, said; ..
 ''There is at this time an urgent need for an increased agricultural pro- duction and this need will be intensified as population grows. The soil has not been made to increase it's yield as rap idly as the world s population has mul- tiplied.
 "Those engaged in the work of teaching the principles of scientific farming are performing a valuable ser vice. The scientific farmers of today are empire builders and take rank with those whO in earlier years, with pick, shovel and blow built the ditehes to re- claim the desert with water from the running streams, for they also are re- claiming the desert and more of the desert than the irrigator."
 In the following extracts from ad- dresses before the congress, will be found suggestions of the methods that have been proven successful in the dry farming districts. F.. R. PaTons of Col o-ado, said:
 Some of our agriculturalists and CSpCrimenters tell yoE not to plant al falfa on sod; they know too well how soil is usually plowed in this country three or four inches deep-like rib bOns spread out to dry.
 But you can raise alfalfa on sod, and on sandy land will do better than any other way. We never wait for sod to rot; we rot it with the disk We start in the first wet day and disk it and cross-disk it. cutting it all to pieces; then we blow. it eight inches, turning it completely over and disk the other side; then work it as fine as old land before planting. Fall blowing and spring planting are the best and the seed should be put in during the wettest period of the year, about half an inch to an inch deep. There is al- ways certain risk of sprouting and drying out before the next rain comes when small seeds are planted during the heat of summer. The press drill is much better for this work than the disk drills. l am not much in favor of rolling or packing except for seed germinatiOn, my experience being that the first good storm will pack your land