Camas Prairie chronicle. [volume] (Cottonwood, Idaho) 1901-1917, 1910-04-01
DRY FARMING THEME
INTERESTING FACTS VOICED
BY D. I. HAM.
Modern System of Cultivation in United
States Spreads to Foreign Lands Has
Brought Settlers and the West and
Northwest Are Developing Fast Under
These New Methods.

wide attention or spread SO rapidly as
that of dry farming. Four gatherings
have been held for the discussion of this
subject and preparations are now going
forward for the fifth convention Of the
Dry Farming congress and Interna-
tional Dry Farming exposition, which
will be held in Spokane the first week
in October.
Every state and territory in the So
called arid and the semi-arid west and
many of the states in the humid dis
tricts of the United States are pre-.
pairing to send delegates to this CON
gress, and the provinces of western
Canada and the provinces and nations
on every continent are also making ar
rangements for representation with
delegates and exhibits.
Not only agriculturists and opera
tive farmers, but scientists of the fore
most agricultural colleges and expert
ment stations, of the national depart
ments of agriculture Of many govern
ments, as we'll as economists and pub
licists everywhere are interested in this
movement.
Wonder of Age.
The growth of the dry farming move
ment is one of the wonders of the
present age A term that was pro-
vocative of incredulous smiles and
deprecatory jests five years ago, today
is recognized as symbolical of the
higher agriculture toward which all ma
tions are striving. The first meeting
at which the Trans Missouri Dry Farm
ing congress was formed, was regarded
as joke; the fifth Dry Farming con-
gress, which will meet in Spokane, holds
the serious attention of nations.
Growth Phenomenal.
The growth of the dry farming move
ment has been phenomenal in that it
has spread to all quarters of the globe
in four years, but its advancement to
the front of public questions in eco
nomic Importance is particularly notice
able in the western United States and
Canada
Five years ago there were a few
farmers struggling against adversely on
the plains of eastern Colorado, in New
Mexico, Utah and elsewhere in the semi
arid west. The settlers who took up
land in non-irrigable sections of the
west were regarded as foolhardy, or
worse. Their efforts to make the dry
farms productive were condemned as in
wiling nothing but failure.
Early Settlers Struggled
Many settlers who had gone into
the dry regions did fail and many
struggled along for years eking out a
bare existence with the aid of a few
exceptionally propitious years, but num-
bers succeeded. Scattered throughout
the west in Utah, Wyoming, Montana,
Colorado, and in other states were more
or less isolated exceptions to the ex-
pectations of the pessImists. In some
sections, notably in eastern Washing
ton, Oregon and Utah, there were
notable exceptions, and in these states
dry farming was accepted as fact.
Five years ago the newspapers of
the country were reluctant to publish
articles of the successes of dry farm
ing There was a prevalent idea
throughout the east that the greater
part OF the west was useless for farm
ing; that desert land would remain bar
[en and desolate, where the irrigating
dltch was unknown, and that so-called
dry farming was ridiculous in concep-
ZION and impracticable in application.
Scientific Cultivation.
The failures that have been recorded |
among the settlers on the dry lands
and the prejudice in the minds of east
ern and western skeptics against dry
farming had a common origin-in |
ignorance of the conditions under which |
ury farming was attempted and of the |
methods necessary to successful dry |
farming The settlers who found the |
conditions on the dry lands too hard, |
u li not know how to combat those con-
oltlons. They did not know how to pillow
'ner ground, what kind of seed to
pant, what kind of cultivation to give
Inelr growing or dying crops In brief,
'ney dld not understand the conserva-
ZION OF moisture or the scientific cul
tlvation of soil.
The unbelievers in the east did not
AnoW the west, did not understand the
conditions necessary to successful farm
ing IN any region, did not believe the
lacts when they were presented, be-
cause they did not know the west.
0keptics in the west did not know their
west or were influenced by motives of
seinSh interest, inspired by mistaken
Iuea that the settlement of the country
ny farmers was somehow in conflict
WIN their own private interests.
Grasped the Possibilities.
When the Trans Missouri Dry Farm
ing congress was organized, John 7.
burns, then secretary of the Colorado
STATE Commercial association, perceived
'ne causes behind the failures among
'ne dry land settlers and grasped the
possibilities of dry farming if the
proper methods were placed at the COM
mand of the dry farmers. He saw that
euueatlon must be the keynote if it
would be effective in the upbuilding of I
'ne west. The congress struggled
against Draiudiaa ,,,E;l kl,a +b;rd animal