The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1910-01-14
INFORMATION ON DRY FARMING
Il. X. Parsons i'm Ranch and Home
Gives Valuable Information to
Dry Farmers

= wives SaiuaDle information to
= Dry Farmers
= The trees catch snow in the biz
a yards and hold it late in the season
the leaves and rubbish dam it bac]
from running off into the streams an,
thus prevent waste of moisture AM
erosion OF our mountain soils.
Every drop of water that remain,
Win us to help dampen our atmos
phere Is so much gain. Every dro,
tnat nnds its way into the sea is 6
dead loss. But the most important
reason of all is this.
Every plant every tree, takes I'D its
: food In solution with water, when this
plant food in the sap has been d.
: gested, and assimilated the surplus
: water is thrown off by the leaves and
transpired into the atmosphere.
An ordinary apple tree may give Off
from 20 to 80 gallons of water a dav
good sized cottonwood 10 gallons,
DIG Engleman spruce several hun
dred gallons.
NOW, II one tree can transpire INFO
the atmosphere several hundred gal
Ions, forest ten miles square can
throw out during the day enough
moisture TO make good sized cloud
burst over an area of several square
miles. This Is easy to figure out.
NOW most of this water is from
melted SHOWS which, but for the ex-
lstence OF these trees, would have
loot The roots of
run of ana p.,,,,
o ume OF our big trees .ro.
6 6a liens reach a hundred fsat g. ever l.
the atmosn h PUMP water back int t9
..u.se Wuu4u nave eSCdpeQ
from the surface, perhaps forever. Y
. Just this much. In the growing
season, when our clouds come fos' t
ing over the mountains and stw.
dry streak of air they begin + r. die
sipate and dry out without giving ms
a shower. They are absc rbed bv the
hot, dry atmosphere.
But: on the Other nand. suppose
Tn 80 strike a damp stratum of air
given off by Some OF our forests, lakes
and reservoirs; what happens then?
r The Clouds begin to gain in mois-
tnre, growing before our eyes, until
the point of saturation is reached
they can hold no more moisture-the !,
floodgates are opened and We get
shrower. ..a.,... .---~4 - -
,,~. When Dur hygrometers show plenty !!
OF moisture in the air and we hear
the train whistles from afar, we are
sure that almost any cloud will make
a rain, but when the air is dry over
head, then our clouds go i4oating by
to raise crops In Kansas and Nebraska
Our rainfall has Undoubtedly suf-
fered through the firing and devasta-
ton of our forests, but on the whole,
l believe we have gained more than
we have lost, by the building of res
ervoirs, bitches and irrigation works
in general, the water from which
when turned onto the heated soil of
our fields, evaporates millions of tons
OF moisture into our atmosphere ev-
cry day of the summer season, be-
sides this, we take into account every
plowed field which catches and holds
moisture, every crop which trans
pires this moisture into our atmos-
phere, for every hill of corn, every
plant of alfalfa Or grain, throws off
into the air many times it's own
weight in water before it reaches ma
turity. Thus we see that the conserva-
ton of forests and the settling up of
country conduce toa moister condition
OF the atmosphere and, as | have al
ready shown, a moist condition of the
atmosphere conduces to more dew and
more rain.
Years ago dew was rare occur
renee, and when we did happen to
discover any We would call out the
whole family to look at it. Nowadays
we have SO much dew and so many
damp nights in June that we usually
wait until July before We cut our
alfalfa, which we used to put I'D two
weeks earlier.
The weather bureau people con- ,
tend that wet and dry weather comes y,
in cycles and that it will become dry 4,
again before long. However, have
never been able to discover any evil
dence yet that the difference amount !,
ed to more than an inch or so, or that J.,
any,of these dry cycles have ever :
been too dry to raise crops. In fact ,,
many men, myself among the num- :
Der, have raised crops for thirty =
years and some for forty years with =
out a failure, dry cycles or wet cy- :
cles; but of one thing feel certain; y
In years to come our dry cycles will :,
not be so dry and our wet cycles wet =
ter than ever, for sooner or later all :