The Beaver herald. [volume] (Beaver, O.T. [Okla.]) 1895-1923, 1910-12-01
DRY COUNTRY FARMS
Great Many Of Settlers Have
Little or No Capital.
Arid Country Gradually Settling UP
and Present.Tlme Difficulties VIII
Be Overcome by Adopting
Modern Methods.

Farming conditions in the dry coun-
try are far more from being settled as
they should be and II is too true that
many have had only failure or partial
success. One reason for discourage
ment and failure is that the great ma
jority settling on the frontier have
little money to make a start, writes
John Robertson in Campbelrs Scien-
tifc Farmer. Few have anything left
after building small house on their
claim and buying few necessities,
and then must live somehow for about
two years before getting any returns
from cultivation OF the soil. Those
who do not leave the country. profit
from the failure of others, in that
they can buy their improvements, etc.
for a small per cent. of the actual
worth. This is condition of affairs
in which we find "a survival of the
fttest."
Many OF the first settlers who re-
NAMED turned their attention to
stock raising, letting their stock run
on government land. and are now in
come so accustomed to plenty of land
that they have started to cry, "a man
can't make a living on 100 acres of
land" which accounts for the various
bills for the enactment of law al
lowing 6i0acre homesteads. There
may be localities where 1t would add
/ to the prosperity of the state 10 allow
hnnNnatnaIe httf hn f1an-
( jority OF the western part of the state
/ It would be a mistake. It is not more
land that is needed. but better farm
/ ing. Many are land poor" now.
Ono great drawback is the scarcity
Of water. and. in many localities. poor
water. Wells are very uncertain, and
| a poor man cannot afford to pay for
! the drilling. Still. as time goes on.
l the country will gradually settle up,
until all the land is taken, and pres
ent time difficulties will be overcome
/ by adopting methods that best comply
with natures laws for overcoming the
drawbacks existing in the various To-
calities. In time more will be pro-
duced from 40 acres of land than Is
now from 100 acres.
II is hard for the man who comes
from an eastern state to realize that
there are lands here in which there
is no moisture in the subsoil available
for crops. II one digs hole on such
land. even after one OF our wettest
seasons, he will come to coil as dry
as though II never had been wet All
we have to depend upon is the rain
fall. which is uncertain. Many claim
that as the country gets settled and
land is cultivated the seasons will
change and we will get more rain.
This hope is a consolation, but per-
sonally | have little faith in the the
ory. We have been experiencing
more favorable years lately, but the
dry years will come again; so let us
plan to accept conditions as they
have been, study the nature OF the
country, and by adapting ourselves to
conditions, overcome the difficulties.
From experience. have learned
there are four main principles TO OBJ
serve in making success of dry land
farming, namely: First. deep plowing
second, planting home grown seeds
or those adapted to the particular 10
cality; third, planting farther apart
or only about two-thirds as much seed
to the acre as on wet land; fourth
thorough cultivation.
In hard soils 12-inch plow Is large
enough for team weighing from
1900 and 1,400 pounds each. II is 9
good idea to use plow with an extra
heavy beam, say 14-inch plow beam
in 12-inch plow. We cannot all af
ford big horses, nor even enough oi
small ones in some cases; so where 9
man has only one team of bronchos
weighing say 1000 pounds each, and
maybe IA or 16 inch plow, he can
not loosen the soil very deep. and will
get results accordingly.
Good seed is OF great Importance
II possible. get seeds of some one II
the locality, who is making a success
and has varieties which are adapted
observe this rule. especially in seed
| gnrp