Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1909-09-23
USING SEMI ARID LANDS.
Rocky Mountain Country Which
Need Only Rainfall.

Secretary Wilson ~ the department OF
| agriculture has returned from the West
more fully impressed than ever with the
belief that one Of the biggest problems
this country has on its hands is
the problem Of how to utilize
| the semi-arid regions Of - the West
ern half of tho United States. says
! the Washington CORES pondent OF the
Boston Transcript From the one hum
dredth meridian Of latitude west to the
Pacifc coast, all through the Rocky
Mountain country, there are millions and
millions OF acres of land whose only de-
feet is that it has a scant supply of rain
| fall 1t is not desert. though that term
has been applied to u by the unthinking
In reality, much of it Is soil Of Astounding
fertility, but 1t IS Ia ckine in enough rain
fall to make IT an inviting field for the
| labors Of the settler.
And yet settlers are pouring into these
semiarid regions. They have in many
! cases ben led to believe that by n system
of dry land farming these emi-ard
tracts can be cultivated with profit In
good many cases, there has been disap-
pointment. In other cases, with rainfall
for year or two above the average
much progress has been made and good
| farms have been opened up1 subject,
| however, to the danger Of drought in the
future.
Secretary Wilson has been .ktXing the
subject great deal Of atteItti oMhereto-
fore and so have some of T1YeS lea ding
scientists Of the department OF agrlcul-
! ture. But this year Secretary Wilson has
been going into the questions presented
by the semi-arid regions more carefully
than he has ever done. For this, there
are important reasons. one Is that the
increasing cost Of living has emphasized
| to his mind the fact that farm production
| is not keeping pace with the growth Of
population and more acreage and better
| farming are needed. Another is that the
| good. cheap. we'll watered lands OF the
| United States are being rapidly taken NJ
and If land Is to be found for the in
creasing population and to supply the
growing land hunger 1t must be supplied
in the semi-ard regions. If a way could
be found to develop the semi-arid acre -
| age, there would be little difficulty In
this country producing enough grain and
meat TO feed itself for good many
! years. OF course. there are large semi
arid areas which can be irrigated and as
TO these the problem is not dlflcult
one. Reclamation projects are being
gradually completed and the lands thus
thrown open to use are going to be a
great factor before many years In sov-
ing the food supply problem Of the
United States.
Secretary Wilson Is convinced the
Campbell system OF dry land farming. Of
| which so much has been made in some
parts of the West. Is based on a wrong
principle, The Campbell system IS based
on conservation Of such moisture as does
| fall. 1t advocates ploughing FOR two sea
sons and raising crops one season Sec
rotary Wilson says all the while the de-
caved vegetable matter in the soil Is
burning out. and thus the soil is gradual
~ robbed Of Its fertility and exhausted
What 10 needed IL TO find d way to In
crease the vegetable matter In the soil
and the only solution he sees Is to trans
plant certain types of grasses and othe,
plants which grow successfully In other
dry, cold. bleak parts OF the world such
as Siberia, He IL satisfied that some o,
the alfalfas and grasses which"Dr. ". e
Hansen of his department has 4 FUND b,
his remarkable explorations in Siberia
can be used successfully In the dry lant
hTthA OI tHt WEST. once Snch plants car
be grown, then ploughing under to ferti
lie the soil and help it retain moisture
Secretary Wilson Is convinced the prob
lem of the semi-arid regions will n
largely solved
Another instrumentality for convertin,
the semi-arid lands into farms that bios
som like the rose promises to be tn,
windmill 1t Is found that under certain
conditions n windmill can pump waite
enough from a well to water five acres
1t Is entirely feasible to sink wells II
much Of the semi-arid country.
1t has not been many years since dis
couraged settlers from the East, goinl
by wagon into north western Iowa and tn
Dakotas, were driven out poverty strick
en- by the drought and other inclemencie
OF Nature. Many thought then tina
these regions, now among the riches
. IA rming lands In the United States. woul
never he settled. To-day they are wei
populated Secretary Wilson and HE ex
perts think that much OF the semi-ari
belt may have like experience, At an
rate, they are doing a lot of hard worl
and a great deal Of deep thinking int
the problems the semi-arid sections pre-