The Salt Lake herald-Republican. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1909-1918, 1910-04-24
DRY FARMS WILL
END FOUNDATIONS
Expert Tells How Missouri and
Mississippi Floods Can
Be Avoided.
KEEP WATERS IN WEST
CREATION OF RESERVOIRS WILL
STOP YEARLY OVERFLoWs.
fspecial to The Herald-RepubIican.)

Especial to The Herald-Republican.)
Spokane, Wash, April 2S.-Conserya-
ton of the moisture of the soil in the
semi-arid belt of the western part Of the
United States by modern methods of
tillage will avert the disastrous spring
floods in the Mississippi valley. This
theory is advanced by Professor A. E.
Chamberlain, superintendent of farm
ers' Institutes in South Dakota, who
makes the following statement in the
current issue of the Dry Farming Con-
gress Bulletin, published in Spokane:
IF every acre of land west of the
Missouri river were in q good state Of
cultivation and plowed to depth OF
not less than ten inches at least every
alternate year, the torrents in the riv-
ers leading from the mountains to the
Mississippi river would be unheard of. !"
The Missouri, Mississippi, Platte, Re-
publican and Arkansas rivers and a
hundred other less important streams
at least once a year gather the torrents
that pour down the mountain gorge and
surge through the coulees and arroyos
of the high western plains, and swollen
with the melting SHOWS and spring
rains. these streams hurl floods through
the towns and cities in the Mississippi
and tributary valleys, driving men.
women and children from their homes
and leaving destruction, desolation and
disease in their wake.
Cause of Floods.
The statement that most OF these
floods are caused by the melting SHOWS
on the mountains is generally accepted.
yet it is a fact that snow Is only one
of the contributary factors. Little or
no consideration has been given to the
rainfall In that vast stretch of terri
tory west of the 9Sth meridian, the COM
mon belief being that the area once
known as "the Great American Desert"
does not receive sufficient rain to make
an appreciable variation in the volume
of water carried by the streams in the
Mississippi valley.
That this view is erroneous is proved
by computation of the volume OF wa
ter in an annual rainfall of ten inches.
One inch of rain On an acre of ground
represents 226,SS1 pounds, or 27,155.1sS
gallons, while a ten-inch rainfall means
that the same area has received 271.-
551.63 gallons.
The average annual rainfall in the
more than twenty inches, the precipita-
ton varying according to locality.
Therefore a ten-inch annual rainfall,
which is considered low estimate for
the entire region embraced in the terri
tory between the 9Sth meridian and the
continental divide in the Rocky noun
tains, embracing an area of about $780,
600, 900 acres, would give a precipita-
ton C 1878, S15, 900, 600 gallons of wa
ter.
Over the largest portion of this area
the principal precipitations come during
the winter and spring months. Much
is in the form of snow and lodges on
the mountains or covers the plains dur
ing the winter, but most of the precipi-
tation is in the form of rains during
March, April, May and June. Thus the
heaviest precipitation begins Just before
the snow begins to melt, increases in
volume as the vanishing drifts pour
their millions of gallons into the noun
tain streams at a eime to force the al
ready swollen streams cTer their banks
and cause the annual deluge.
Dry Farming Results.
The question that naturally arises is:
How can dry farming or any other
method of cultivation affect the results
of these meteorological phenomena?
Dry farming is based upon the princi-
pie Of conservation Of moisture In the
soil. Farmers in the semi-arid west ac-
complish this by systematic tillage.
Deep blowing, so that the falling moist
ure may penetrate the earth to the
greatest depth, is one Of the fundamen-
tai principles of all successful dry farm
ing systems, while systematic cultiva-
ton of the surface to maintain a dust
blanket. is the supplemental principle
applied to retain the moisture.
That deep blowing and systematic
cultivation viii create a soil reservoir
for storing indefinitely the bulk of the
moisture which falls upon the ground
In the form of rain or snow, and that
the conservation of moisture In the soil
by these methods makes agriculture in
the semi-arid sections of the west whera
the rainfall is extremely limited NOT
only possible but profitable, is attested
by thousands of practical farmers who
have successfully produced crops by drv
farming methods in districts with linn
tied rainfall during periods ranging