Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1910-05-28

III AAfAlls 4 Alt lAfAlANlNAltl EhllNNll since
Jan. amounts 10 practically half
OF the normal precipitation and I'm CON
sequence the dry farmers are some
what uneasy over the outlook The
want OF ram. however. is immaterial 20
the average farmer who has water
rights and irriRates his crops from
the canyon streams and artificial res
orvoirs.
Reports from various sections Of the
state are conflicting. The dry farmers
proper the men who farm on a scien-
tihc basis say that there will be an
average crop " from 70 10 30 bushels
Of grain. They admit. however. that
the inexperienced man who broke
ground and planted his crop without
proper cultivation which Is the keynote
Of arid farming. win lose his crop or
to be more specific. viii never see his
wheat in the ear.
Observer Thiessen. OF the u. s de-
partment OF agriculture, weather bu-
reau. who has a weakness FOR long coll
umns OF statistics. could tell the story
I'm a nutshell. because he has daily re-
ports from all sections on the crops
but Mr.. Thiessen. like his co-laborers
in an districts OF the country. Il for
hidden TO give out such information un-
der pain OF decapitation so the man
who desires 90 plunge on wheat has 10
seek elsewhere for crop forecasts.
AGRONONlIsTs REPORT.
That this is the most critical time
I'm the history OF dry farming in the
state" Is the opinion Of Prof l.. A.
Merrill agronomist In charge OF dry
farming for the Utah Agricultural coll
lege. Mr. Merrill has Just returned
from visit to some OF the more i'm
portant dry farming centers, Cache
Boxelder. Davis. TOoele. Juab and salt
Lake counties, and reports very APP
prehensive feeling on the part OF dry
farmers. There has been more pre-
cipitatlon in Cache, Davis and Boxelder
counties than In the other sections. and
the crops are in consequence In much
better condition" he states.
In cache valley the dry farm wheat
is not suffering at all as vet but In
other localities the grain is beginning
20 turn yellow" he says, lin some in
stances heading out, and conditions al
together are most unsatisfactory
During the first five months last
year the total precipitation at salt Lake
city was l1.3S inches. while for the
same period this year II has been but
4 Z inches, difference OF 6 IS inches.
Such a shortage necessarily means a
great hardship on the supply Of moist
ure in the soil" Prof Merrill reports
that the drouth this year emphasizes
better than ever before the value OF tile
summer fallow. The fallacious teach
ings OF some OF the experts Of the 4.
s department Of agriculture. and even
Of Secretary Wilson that the summer
faliow Is unnecessary and that CON
tinuous cropping Is possible by
judicious rotation Of crops has failed
in results here Wheat on summer
fallowed land last year, In all sections
of the state Is still in a lourishing con-
dition while the wheat on land on
which other crops were grown last
year is yellow and sickly and unless
rains come within the next week there
will be an utter failure.
4 good rain fan Of two or three inches
az this time would mean thousands OF
dollars 60 Utah farmers
IN UTAH COUNTY.
Word received from Provo this morn
ing was to the effect that the dry
farms in the immediate vicinity OF the
Garden city were in good condition and
that crops averaging % bushels 20 the
acre were anticipated
In Cedar valley, however. II was n
different story Here the wheat Is 70
short that IL viii not be worth while
TO harvest II. II is now beginning 10
head out and throughout the huge area
now under arid cultivation in this val
ley the crop will be from one-half to
lne-third OF what IL was last year.
This state OF affairs is reported to be
general on the west side Of Utah lake.
CACHE COUNTY ALL RIGHT.
Bishop George l.. Farrell Of smith
field. the dean OF dry farmers who was
the first and Is the most
successful when called up by The
Deseret News on the phone at his home,
stated that the dry farm crops In
Cache county never looked better.
Il was talking 10 man an hour
ago who had Just returned from
trip To his dry farm high up In the
mountains He stated that the crops
were rs high az his knees and looked
fine, better, in fact than some ~ the
wheat under irrigation In the valley.
Il have a thousand acres up here"
continued Mr.. Farrell "and the crop
gives great promise. ] would say that
II will average fully 30 bushels 10 the
acre provided Il keeps as IL now f..
You can say confidently that there will
be no losses In Cache county"
OUTLOOK IN JUAB
ID "A. or = Of Grace brothers, the
largest an most successful dry farm
ers south OF Salt Lake. this morning
stated over the telephone that the
general outlook for dry farm grain In
Juab county was good III we have
any crops at all In Juab county IN
the vicinity OF Nephi We will have
12b. 900 bushels OF grain The crops
IN general look pretty good and have
stood the drouth well We have had
two showers along the valley this
week which have worked wonders and
from 25 TO 80 bushels an acre are
assured n we have any
more showers In any case there viii
be a fair crop.
"Of course there viii be some
failures: there always are" he con-
tinued. DRY farming has to be done