The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1909-02-21


ing congress a success This man Is
| Fisher Harris. secretary of the Salt
Lake Commercial club, who was the
| first president of the congress Mr.
| Harris was not furnished, during his
| term as president, with the long green
or round yellow materials SO much
needed at that time for the sinews of
war, and the work he accomplished by
| oratory, by printed matter, by person.
ally written letters and by taking dry
| farming and conservation of moisture
| on any and all occasions was consid-
| cred marvellous.
The great need of a systematic study
| OF how to farm successfully on dry
! land, how to make the arid districts
| supply their quota of crops, was some
| thing long realized. Here and there
| farmers of more than ordinary enter
prise had experimental on their own
Initiative at dry farming. Some sue
oesses had been reported. 1t had been
/ demonstrated in a number of instances
that dry farming, under certain eondi-
tons and by pursuing certain methods,
could be made to pay; that large areas
| OF land, fertile and in every way good
| farming land except for lack of mois-
| ture and so located that irrigation
would be impossible or altogether too
| expensive, could be far1ned if right
methods could be found.
-
conference OF dry farming experts and
actual farmers in arid districts was
| called. The meeting was planned by
| the commercial bodies Of Denver, and
| the cali for the meeting was ISSUED by
the governor of that state to discuss
the problems then being aHtated con-
| corning the development of dry farm
4 ing districts 1t was expected that a
/ few scattering enthusiasts would APP
/ pear In Denver to talk over the mat
/ ter. Instead the attendance numbered
/ 329, and the conference developed into
| a permanent organization and move
] ment under the name of the Trans
! Mississippi Dry Farming congress.
| Fisher Harris was there elected the
/ first president, and the next congress
! was convened in this city in January,
! 1908, with an enrolment of $50 which
/ included governors Os western states
I and heads OF state and federal ag~icul-
| tural departments, who assembled from
( sixteen states and territories to dis
cuss The problems confronting the
| farmers on the arid lands in the west.
/ Practical Plans.
1t was at the Salt Lake meeting that
definite plans were adopted for a most
unique and practical general move
ment TO solve the dry farming ques-
| lions The congress was then, to an
u
National Irrigation congress. and
| adopted the plan Of having personal
memberships. with nominal annual
fees. regular assemblies and the publ
cation. at intervals. of all infOrma-
ton possible to get together about dry
farming methods and results obtained.
That the work thus started in Denver
in 1906, and which was given great i'm
petus at the second meeting I'm this
city a year ago, has been appreciated
and has been fruitful of wonderful re-
suits is attested by greatly increased
membership from nearly every state in
the Union. and also by the fact that
the agricultural departments Of sew
eral foreign countries have become
members. Interest has been increas-
ing all the time since the salt Lake
meeting, and there are reasons for be-
lieving that the third meeting this
month VIII be one of the most import
ant economic conventions ever held.
Business of the Congress.
The business of the congress has
been very painstakingly mapped out
and defined. 1t is the business of the
congress to discuss and compare meth
DDS by which the great areas Of arid
land can be best utilized under tillage
and natural TainfalIs conserved. to the
best possible advantages; TO encour-
have been found advantageous along
those lines: to create closer co-oDera-
ton between the federal ard state ex-
perts in charge of dry farming expeTi-
mental work and the farmers in the
arid districts; to discuss plans for car
rying on q great educational propa-
ganda; to encourage legislation look
ing to state and federal appropriations
for establishing experimental stations
ana employing additional field experts;
to study methods and results of dry
farming operations in foreign coun-
tries.
The coming congress, it has been IN
sisted over and over, IS to be bust
ness" congress I'm every sense and
there viii be strict rules enforced linn
iting the addresses and debates- The
program as made up IS ideal and in
Ciudes talks and papers by men who
are practical and experimental farm
ers, seed breeders, live stock men. hor-
ticuiturists, soil specialists, govern
ment and state authorities in expert
mental work. and men who have actu-
ally attained astonishing c-OE results
on dry farms in v1rioUs parts of the
country.
II is hardly probable that any per-
son fully realizes what has already
been accomplished in the western cuun-
try in the way of retaining the des-
ert and semi-arid lands. Wonderful
indeed have been results accomplished
through irrigation, but, with the
science Of dry farming solved the re-
suits will be more than doubled. MIL
have been made fruitful under irriga-
lions of acres in the western states
ton bitches In these states already
miles and miles of irrigation bitches
have transformed the desert lands to
aoreS IF plenty. But til dry faTIa-
ing promoters realize that there are
still vast areas of good land where irri-
CATION is not possible, and this land
must be reclaimed in another way. The
problem that the dry farming men are
trying to solve-and are solving year
by years. how land, intrinsically
good, may be made to bear crops with
out the aid of water artifciauy ap-
piled. This, they have agreed. mus. be
done by storage and conservation of
natural rainfall. They have found how
TO do this in many sections. and the
study of the problem, the recitation IF
experiences. of experiments and re-
suits. the advancing of stil newer
methods will make the coming congress
exceedingly interesting.
Within the last several years num-
Der OF very successful experimental
farms have been established to test
dry farming methods. and these have
helped nightly in solving some vex-