The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1909-04-16

'hoe ioJ VA tuC Wuolc, uOTc lud
any dry crop even In good yea
ordinarily weighs.
These were his figures, then. II
may have changed them since, but o
the whole the principle remains tru
that In the ordinary season in DR.
countries, and in the dry seasons 1
ordinary countries, there Is plenty Q
moisture for crops, II the crops coul
be assured of having the beneft Of /,
| The trouble, and the sole trouble, OF
dinarily, is that hundreds OF tons 3
water evaporate from every acre .
land every year without doing an
good at all.
Save the Moisture.
/ Now Campbell did not invent TIL
idea. He merely embodied it In
system Of agricultural practice, an,
preached II, year In and year out
wrote about 1t. talked about II ant
d1nnedait and Its hope into the ear,
Of the respondent west until the,
heard and, here and there, believed
andtwere saved. That's every livini
thing he aid. He became mission
ary Of moisture conservation. Iii
had no salary; 30 he got help from
railways and land companies II and
grain companiss- anyone VINO would
buy bis papers and books, ana furnish
money ~ that he might teach. He
established model farms. HE twax
put inythes position often ofnbeinE 1
''capper for land men ana immigra!!
ton agents. Often his system Of
farming was misrepresented by those
who claimed more sforfit than he ever
did, that they might sell land. For,
Dc II remembered, he had mo money
and no endowment. But without
either. he has linked his name as
firmly with the prosperity Of the
semi-arid west as has Babcock with
the dairy, Holden with the breeding
Of corn, king with good roads. q
His system ID simple to describe;
and requires nothing but unflagging
attention and moderate intelligence
IN practice. When it becomes gener-
al, the boys of the arid west will
learn IT as they grow up, and will
know no other method; but its adop-
tion by men nurtured in the prac-
tice OF wetter climates calls for more
enterprise and adoption to new
conditions than many possess. But
gradually the semi-arid lands will be
found in the hands of those selected
by the survival of the fittest. Dry
years will be times of wedding out |
and hard times for many. 4 But the
exodus of whole populations from |
those regions is a thing Of the past.
Dry farming will carry successful
agriculture hundreds of miles west |
II its old limits.
How is 1t done? Well, suppose
'ou are dry farmer" You need,
n the first place, little more land
nan In humid region, for you save
ne moisture Of one year. sometimes.
nd carry 1t over into the next, US
ng the rainfall of two seasons to ma
ure one crop. Thus, part of your
and is fallow every year. Most au-
horities say that you should have
70 acres, though some have done
ell on less. When you pillow, YOU
Sc an ordinary stirring plow. but |
gu run 1t deep--far deeper than is !
)mmon.
Every day, you must pack what
'u plow. Packing is an operation !
which the subsurface is made firm /
lille the top is left loose. In the L
y regions the implement dealers !
II machines for doing this work .
'avy tools drawn by four or six g
rises, which look at distance like r
sc harrows, but are really con- 8
fucted on quite different principles .
Harrow, Harrow, Harrow.
Now your field is in splendid con- 81
lion to soak up rain; but when the u
IN Falls, crust forms on the sur =,
'e. Here is danger. The wind will in
OK up the moisture, and carry II tt
from this crust. So you must 3
rrow 1t as soon as possible after ?.
cry rain. Whether it has been put Sc
crop or not, harrow it. If II is al
iplowed, and you do not expect ne
plant 1t until spring, nevertheless, ~ ~
row 1t. Harrow it when the an
ing grain is coming up; harrow re
when 1t is ankle high; harrow it nc
er every rain. Not until the crop -, ~
advanced so far that narrowing
ruin 1t must the crust be allowed be
remain, and then only for the wa
sfest possible time. AS soon as ~ a.
grain is ripe, cut it, and pillow at Va
g, pack the subsurface, and har- tn,
:, harrow, harrow, until the next leg
makes narrowing imnossihla nie