El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1910-08-18

RAID
| in west Texas, where we have not only
! the prejudiceS of the catleman to over
come, but also those of the people who
do not understand the scientific princi-
pies of dry farming. Often a man tells
me in west Texas that he does not be-
lieve dry farming or any other sort of
farming will ever make productive that
! area Of country west of Del Rio to FL
Paso, and he says he doesn't propose to
waste his time on something he knows
is a failure
Il do not claim that dry farming
! is going to reclaim all of west Texas,
not even half of il. 1 do not know how
! much of west Texas will be reclaimed
| by dry farming. Nobody knows until
! experiments are made. I can only tell
/ you the success that has been had in
other parts of the cOuntry-there they
/ have made crops eight inches of rain
and even less. II may be that cOndi-
! tions are so that we can never make
! a success Of farming in the greater part
: of west Texas, but We can try. Mean
time, our brother farmers in east and
! central and north and south Texas can
! be pprofiting in years of drouth by
/ practicing what We teach.
To Reclaim West Texas
/ ct believe. however. that the prin-
/ ciples of scientific soil culture are go
! ing to do more TO develop west Texas
than any other one thing / believe that
even 10 years from now, there will not
be n person who hears this statement
but will know the truth of 1t, when 1
say that the principles of scientific
soil culture will reclaim west Texas. L
| r.
principle Is common sense The princi-
pie of scientific soil culture is to treat
your land so as TO get the best results
on the least moisture; to raise the most
crops and the best crops on that moist
ure you can get. To do this you
have to study your soil. your climate,
your crop growth and a number
of other things. No lazy man can be
dry farmer
Some Proofs.
II have in the past few months seen
several cases in which the common
common sense principles of dry farming
were being most effectively used in the
production of crops. In the northwest,
where the system originated. they say
you must cultivate your land in the
winter-mulch the top of the soil TO
break up the moisture tubes-and keep
the winter rainfall and snow down be-
low, 70 bring up your spring crops But
down here in west Texas, we haven't
any winter snow and seldom any win
ter rain, especially in part of west Tex
as Then comes the question Of what
are We going to do r. Benagh, expert
for the Mexican government, has solved
the question in measure He plows his
ground in the winter like the rest OF
the dry farmers but he makes no effort
to conserve any mOisture-he merely
,piows it to break up the clods and
Jumps and then when he thinks it is
time for the summer rains to begin to
fall, he plants his seed The first sum-
mer rain sprouts them and the others
for when ii begins TO rain in summer.
it always keeps up-bring them up and
mature them. He has never yet made
a failure on quick growing crops he
raises frijoles, kaffir corn, milo maize,
sorghum and cOwpeas- Even II the
product is not marketable, he has good
fodder for his cattle and this tides them
through and the owner can make his
money off his cattle. This. then. is one
way in which the principles of scientific
soil culture are going to help west
Texas
Pecos Mans Experience.
Here is another mans experience
Pecos man. the man who donated the
land for the Texas experiment station
at Pecos, Mr. Moore He has combined ir-
CATION and the princiRles Of scientific
soil culture in a most effective manner
He irrigates his land in the winter.
plows il over like the dry farmers do
in the north, and then conserves enough
moisture to bring up his young plants
in the spring and carry his fruit trees
safely TO the rainy period. He finds that
winter irrigation goes deeper, and
soaks the ground better than summer
irrigation It also makes the roots OF I
the trees go downward. instead of turn
ing upward, as they naturally do when
seeking moisture if the irrigation Is
light which is of necessity in sum
mer. and they are thus better prepared
TO stand the heat of the summer with J
out whitening Mr.. Moore finds that
he can cover about twice as much land ]
with the same amount of water, by
irrigating in the " inter and scientiflcaI- !
" cultivating the surface, than he could |
by irrigating In the summer, after the |
ground had Thoroughly dried out be- |
low, when the water would only soak |
down a short ways and soon dry OUT, !
making frequent irrigations necessary |
Water is an important thing in the west !
and if dry farm principles, closely fol- |
lowed. will enable a man to irrigate as !
much land with a given amount Of wa
ter aren't the principles worth consid- /,
ering and experimenting with, at least? /
Campaign of Education
Therefore, 1t is the duty of the MEM |
hers of this congress to help carry the |
of education necessary 10 |
show the people what dry farming Is !
We are pioneers in this work. We are |
explorers We know what other states !
have done. We have seen the wonderful /
results accomplished on a small amount [
of rainfall We know that cultivted !
land. if cultivated properly, holds the I
moisture where land uncultivated and /
cultivated will be too dry |
to terminate any sort Of a seed. Many !
Of us have gone to the Campbell expert
ment farm near Midland or to J. F. !
Reeves's farm near FL PasO and had an
of examining the Guilt /
Gated area and the uncultured and |
nearby. We found the uncultivated I
land dry as powder: the cultivated land
wet down in many cases as deep as four
feet So there is no question but that [
the cultivation of land in a proper man
ner-mulching the surface and pack |
ing the soil, deeper down-will retain |
the moisture. Just how much moisture