Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1909-10-22
FOR DRY FARMING
Big Congress to Be Held at
Billings, Mont, to Discuss
Subject.
VAST AREA is INTERESTED
Semiarid Lands, 2OO,OOO,OOO Acres
in Extent, to be Benefited by
New Method.

II IL expected that great impetus To
the movement for the rapid settlement
Of the 2000O0.COO acres of seniiarid
lands In the west and south will be
| given by the fourth dry farming con
| gress. which will be held ut Billings.
Mont. Oct 26. ~ and -. The attend
ance at the congress is expected to be
very large.
An exposition flied with exhibits of
dry farming products from all over
the west which will be held in con
nectiOn with the meeting will add
greatly to its interest and will give the
delegates and visitors definite ideas of
the wonderful results which are being
accomplished with little rainfall by
scientific soil culture.
In the minds of those best acquaint-
cd with conditions in the west it is
the general belief that the seniarid
lands, handled by dry farming meth
DDS, must in large measure solve the
cry of the eastern people and the city
man for farm land. This land can be
purchased at Il low price. 1t can be
obtained in large Quantities-quarter
or half SectiOnS-and if properly farm
ed will bring results as satisfactory as
can be obtained on irrigated land.
No Longer an Experiment.
The methods used in the so called
dry farming no longer are an expert
ment. Within the last five years con-
ditionS of almost every conceivable
kind have been successfully encounter
ed. Each season has developed new
and wonderful possibilities i'll the dcs-
ert lands once they are placed under
cultivation and once the little rainfall
obtained each year is properly pre-
served.
There is perhaps no better example
of the possibilities of dry farming than
in Utah. AS one goes down through
the Bear river valley in the heart of
the Wastatch range he sees great irri-
gated fields OF alfalfa. beets and grains
in the valleys. while on the hilisides
are other equally beautiful fields Of
waving grains. grown by dry Turning
methods. where the rainfall always is
less than thirty inches a year.
So successful has been the dry farm
ing in this valley that many irrigators
have sold their irrigated tracts and be-
come hillside dry farmers. On all sides
in this valley the dry farmers report
unusually successful crops.
Growth of the Movement.
When the third congress closed there
We're about 1900 members. and the
movement was established upon a per
manent basis as the leading economic
force in the greater development of
the west ard a powerful factor i'll the
e f,D
world where agriculture is being prac-
ticed. Those memberships represented
the east and west of this country and
some foreign lands, but the bulk of
them were in Colorado. Wyoming,
Utah. Idaho. Montana. the Dakotas
and other western states.
The membership now is more than
$500 and represents thirty-siX states
and territories of the United States
and ten foreign countries. New Mex
leo leads. with 1.2OT members: .Wyo-
ming is second. with 1.1J4; Nebraska
third, with 931: Montana has 202.
There are members in New Hamp-
shire. Rhode Island, Massachusetts,
Connecticut. New Jersey. Maryland.
Pennsylvania. West Virginia. New
York. Ohio. the District of Columbia,
Louisiana and Illinois. Canada leads
the foreign lands with twenty-siX
members; Mexico has ten and Aus
tralia nine British Columbia, Russia,
France. British South Africa, Hun
gary. Brazil and Turkey are among
the other foreign countries repre-
scented.
Departments CT Agriculture Active.
While in Wyoming and Idaho this
summer Secretary of Agriculture Will
son took great delight in inspecting
districts where dry farming WAS in
progress. What he saw satisfied him
that dry farming had come to stay.
and it is the purpose of the depart
<fiient to encourage it as much as pos
sible.
Considerable aid in that direction
has already been given; Il number of
crops, netnbiy grains. have been dis
covered abroad which are peculiarly
adapted TO dry farm culture. Agents
of the department are in Siberia and
TurkeStan and elsewhere in Asia
searching for new crops which can be
prn;itably grown in the semiarid
regions of the west without the aid
of irrigation.
One of their recent discoveries is a
variety of alfalfa that will grow under
such conditions. an alfalfa which in
the high. dry belt of Siberia yields
two crops year and in addition fur