Heppner gazette. [volume] (Heppner, Morrow County, Or.) 1892-1912, 1910-09-29
Dry Farming Will be
Encouraged.

st. Paul, Sept. 25. Impetus wi
be given to dry farming next mont
in Oregon by Professor Thomas Shaw
soil expert of Montana and Mort
Dakota, who has been commissions
by Hill railroad interests to tou
Interior Oregon and to speak t
citizens of that region at importan
centers. such as Ontario, Vale. Burns
Prineville. Bend. Madras and Silve
Lake. Other towns will be added t
the itinerary. The tour will begil
at Ontario about October 8.
Vast areas Of Montana and NortI
Dakota Welded between one half ant
two thirds crop this year on only fiv'
inches average rainfall. The normal
rainfall is 15 inches-about that oi
many parts of the Interior Oregon
country. Without "dry" methods
Montana and North Dakota would
have lost their crops completely in
their semi-arid districts. Land that
received only 80 inches rainfall this
year yielded crops-due to ''dry"
farming methods. This was one of
the driest years in the history of
Montana and North Dakota, yet crops
were not failures.
Professor Shaw for 12 years was
head of the Department of Animal
Husbandry of the Agricultural College
of Minnesota. Prior to that service
he was practical farmer for 25 years
near Hamilton. Ontario. In recent
years he has been employed by James
J. Hill. for the Great Northern Rail-
road, working out problems of dry
farming in the Middle Northwest.
He is highly regarded bv Mr.. Hill
and by the people of this part of the
country.
Mr.. Hill is desirous of bringing
he dry districts of Interior Oregon
into successful agriculture, just as
he has helped to do elsewhere along
his railroads. With this end in mind
he is sending Professor Shaw into
Oregon, to give the people there use
full information.
The Oregon & Western Colonization
Company. purchaser of the 300 .0O0-
acre land grant of the Willamette
Valley and Cascade Mountain Military
Road, will cooperate all it can to-
ward making Professor Shaw's tour
IucIessful. W. P. Davidson, presi-
lent of the company. will probably
% at Ontario when Professor Shaw
'egins the trip; also John E. Burchard.
Tice-presidet Of the company. This
company plans to put large part Of
is holdings on the market for new
ettlers.
Professor Shaw's method of dry
arming for grain is this:
In early Spring, plow as deeply as
Practicable. Immediately follow with
oller or disc harrow and then with
pike harrow; allow the land to lie
allow that season after each rain
se the spike harrow (this conserves
nd holds the water).
If plowinR can be done in the Fall,
o much the better. In that case,
orn can be planted the next Spring
Or an intermediate crop between two
ields of wheat. Two tons an acre
t cured corn fodder is common by this
ystem. Or. in place of corn fodder,
eld peas or beans may be raised.
'ithout uniting the soil for next
ears wheat. But steady wheat grow
lg, without intervening years of
moisture, is not success
IL.
Professor Shaw is of the opinion
lat while irrigation will improve
le Willamette Valley, much can be
also through rejuvena-
on of the soil with humus-alfalfa
over, etc.. and by adaptation of
dry methods.
Greatest of all conservation prob
ms in the Vest" says Professor
haw, "is conservation of moisture.
ct the st. Paul Conservation Con-
-ess never touched that subject"
In three years, Professor Shaw's
ethod gives two grain crops, plus
] intermediate fodder crop. The
tremediate oroD does not necessitste
owing for the grain sowing.