The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1909-11-16

springfield Republican,

\oP1
This is a question which continues
to engage the warning attention of
James J. Hill, the Western railroad
magnate, and in an article under this
title in the Worlds Works magazine
he emphasizes again the national ne
cessity of more improved and inten-
siVe farming if we are to raise fOod
enough for our own consumption.
Thus it is calculate that by 1850 the
population Of the United States will
be 200, 900, 600; the present per capita
consumption Of wheat for example is
6 1-2 bushels: and accordingly the
yearly home requirement Of wheat in
1850 will be 100000 bushels, as
compared with a present production
of around 0 100000 bushels.
It is good economic gospel which
Mr.. Hill is preaching even though he
may appear to be unduly alarmed.
Startling as is likely to be the growth
of the country and it's food require
ments in the years just ahead, it is
to be noted. on the other hand. that
agriculture is coming into scientific
study as never before, and wonder
full achievement seems to be in prom
Use for increasing the productive ca
pacity of the soil and the protection
of crops against adverse influences.
Very impressive as to such possibilities
is a book just appearing from The
Century press of New York on DRY
Farming: Its Principles and Practice"
by William Macdonald, who is con-
nected with the college of agriculture
at h University Of Minnesota. This
work is largely of technical character
and chiefly of interest to farmers To-
Gated in the desert or drought regions
of the Far West, which only a few
years back were regarded as hopeless
ly lost to a~griculture; but the general
reader will be attracted by the his
tory of the matter and the exposition
Of its principles and possibilities.
Through dry farming crops are
produced in large yield in regions
where the annual rainfall ranges down
from 3 inches next to nothing. It's
essential features are deep blowing,
much pulverization of the soil and
deep planting. Dependence upon h
is known as surface water is aband-
doned, and reliance is placed upon
the capillary moisture to be found in
the desert soils some distance beneath
the surface and the moisture absorb
ed, by light surface soils from the
vapOrs of the air and the deWS. Pull
verization of the soil down to a good
retaining subsoil not only provides a
surface mulch" or covering to pre-
vent moisture from escaping, serving
much the same purpO as a covering
of boards, but it SO 1ightens or loosens
the surface soil that wheat, for ex-
ample, can be placed six inches or
more below the surface and work up
to the light and air as readily as II
sown upon the surface and lightly
narrowed in.
This tells pretty much the whole
story so far as needed for the infor-
nation of the layman, out there re-
mains to be told the quite wonderful
results of an application Of these
simple principles. Artificial irrigation
has it's broadening field in the regions
mentioned, but it is costly and it's ex-
tension must be slow. Dry farming
can be and is being extensively taken
proftably pursued. It is best employ
up where irrigation is wanting, and
ed in growing the cereals, wheat, oats,
barley, corn, ETC., and forage crops
like alfalfa and clover. Illustrations
are given showing a production Of no
less than 25 bushels of wheat to the
acre on land that would otherwise be
useless because of it's aridity. Some
cases are given where the wheat yield
-. :~o- 70 Xxx h,,cIalC T1roa ror