Iron County record. [volume] (Cedar City, Utah) 1893-1982, 1910-10-21
DRY FARMING CROPS
Method to Become important
Adjunct to Agriculture.
Possibilities Widening With Each Sue
cesslve Year--ExtensiVe Expert.
ments Constantly In Prog.
ress Shed New Light.


That dry farming is destined to be- |
come an important adjunct TO Ameri-
can agriculture Is a conclusion no
longer open to serious doubt. says Or
ange Judd Farmer It's possibilities are
widening with each succeeding year.
and the extensive experiments con-
stantly in progress are shedding new
light upon the whole broad question
of agriculture.
To the average farmer the propo-
sition that moisture can be conserved
in the soil against day of need for
weeks and months--indeed. carried
over from one season into another.
seems the most absurd folly; yet that
II can be done has been amply demon
STATED and the plan is in actual OPP
Grafton upon hundreds OF farms
throughout the west.
Dry farming is not altogether new
in the United States. The Indians OF
the southwest have raised meager
crops Of beans and maize for centuries
in sections where the rainfall is al
most nothing. There are many things
to indicate that the prehistoric races
of the southwest were farmers, and
unless great climatic changes have ia.
ken place, they must have raised sup.
plies for large populations In a land
where the rainfall was very little. Dry
farming has been a feature OF agri-
culture In California since the FIRST
settlements. Oats. barley. corn and
many varieties of fruits and vege
tables are raised with rainfalls vary
ing from 8 to 20 inches yearly. II Is
a land OF hot, blazing sunshine. yet
evaporation is arrested and the soil
kept moist and hospitable to the grow
ing plant.
Perhaps no country In the word.
save that of the actual desert sand.
seems less calculated for agriculture
than the wind-swept plains of New
Mexico and Arizona How can crops
re raised In that land OF perennial
drought, where the rainfall, In many
places, registers less than eight inches
a year? Dry farmers say that II can
be done, the secret or system being
merely cultivation. In sections where
the rainfall is least II Is proposed to
store and conserve the moisture dur
ing one year for use the next. thus
only attempting a crop every other
year
In those favored localities where the
rainfall averages is inches or over
yearly. a crop each year may be safely
attempted. The plan is to grow some
quick, summer growing crop. such as
kafir corn. Egyptian corn. milo maize
or beans. The planting should be
timed so that the crop will be In full
growth when the greatest rainfall Il
expected to occur AS the rainfall In
creases, wheat. barley and oats may
be safely attempted.
But where the rainfall is less thar
10 inches, nothing remains for the
venturesome husbandman but dr.!
farming OF the most intense sort. HI
must look IS months ahead for hi
crop, industriously and constantly pre-
pairing, the while. his field for the ex
pected planting. The blowing SHOULD
take place during the spring or earl.
summer, allowing the ground to III
fallow throughout the season. AS fal
approaches cultivation must begin
Usually a disk is used to break UP tn
crust and light sod which may hav
formed. Should rains fall during tn
fall and winter. cultivation must TO
low each. And. in any event, cultivf
ton at intervals must take place. Tn
soil must be kept loose and not a
lowed to pack, as that condition Is I;
tai to the storing of moisture. Cultiv'
ton must continue up to the time
planting in April OF May.
II the cultivation has been rigid an