American Falls press. [volume] (American Falls, Idaho) 1907-1937, 1911-12-07
Dry LAND EXTREMISTS
Men Who Spend Much Time In City
once Not Competent to Write on
intricate subject - Those
In Close Contact.

intricate subject Al Those
In Close Contact.
To see thirty or forty bushels Of
grain on dry land with but fifteen
inches Of rainfall. and then drive for
miles through fields that will not give
back the sect with the same tillage,
and possibly slightly more rainfall.
ought to convince our dry farming en-
thusiasts that the natural moisture
Of the soil or subsoil, or the moisture
holding capacity Of the soil. or some
other quality seldom evident at first,
largely governs the returns from dry
farming.
We have recently come across even
0 extreme differences than the
ones noted. We have seen good to
abundant crops On seemingly as dry
land as could be found-with but little
attention given to dry farming meth
DDS; while not far from 1t almost to-
tai failure where every mechanical de-
tail Of dry farming had been carefully
carried out. says, the Dakota Farmer.
These things convince US more than
ever that men who spend most Of
their time In q city oflce-or who
visit but one or two strips Of country
ARE not so competent to write upon
this intricate subject as are some Of
those whose every working hour
brings them In close contact with the
soil and possibly with the mortgage.
All too many jump at conclusions
which everyday facts will not Justify,
n make assertions altogether too
general. and that are not only mis-
leading. but that we know are not
true.
We are glad to note that there is a
frank admitting. by very man
OF these teachers and experimenters,
that 1t takes a certain amount of
moisture In all soils to grow a crop,
and that moisture has to come from
h heavens. from the subsoil or be
conserved by accumulation, and that
moisture cannot be created where It
does not exist.
They must admit. too, that there are
soils and much Of them, that will
never make anything but very uncer-
tain returns where there are but A.
teen inches Of rainfall. 1t is easy to
make glowing assertions, that are true
enough with many soils and subsoils.
oht to get onto a dry, hard-baked
prairie, with an almost impervious
suDsoil-unless 1t does hold that pecu-
liar quality which responds so quickly
to culture-and make It produce at all
worth while. is quite another thing.
There IL much dry soil which will
v do 1t. unless with an expendi-
ture Of time. tillage. horse flesh and
patience not one man In a hundred
possesses. and then In many, many in
stances 1t will not.
We know It Is much easier. and
very much more popular. to Join with
the extremists in this thing. point to
The almost NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. In
and shut our eyes
the discouraged, misled and posi-
bly, ruined, and assert that this. that
and the other system will wiring enor-
nous and certain yields from any and
all dry or desert lands; but we know
mere Is another and larger side to it
all. and u sympathies go out to the
nan who must experiment long and
patiently at his W expense before
knows whether his land will re-
'pond to dry farming methods or not. |
whether yields sufficient will come TO
him on his W particular piece of
Try land to pay for every other year
iiiage. and the extra labor and ex.
'ense he must go to before he can
rope to equal ordinary farm land re-
In the great Golden Valley. stretch.
north and south of Beach and WI
aux on the North Dakota and Mon
ana line, we are told that the Yields
ompare favorably with those of the
led River Valley. This we know IN
e true. at least for some seasons. for
have rode over both valleys from
no TO end more than once; but dry
Is o practiced by one farm.
Z In a hundred In Golden Valley.
But Judith Basin" we are askea
that yieldr' True. but ono
an ride for miles there without find.
a man who even knows what drv l
arming means. much less practices II
Those sections have a soil peculiar '
, themselves, and when combined 6
18th slightly greater. and u~suaI,v
lore ~seasonable rainfall than ths r
'untry on either side Of them have G
rousht forth excellent crops with the
Iost i~nexcusahly haphazard farm,rs
. ever Jaw. 1t is distinctly disbon' '
It to point to these sections. or 9TH.
. Ike them. as proofs of what dry Q
'rming will do. b
We tak second place with no man
the high regard in which we hold h
y farming and most dry farminv s
achers; but do say that the swes~
g assertions made by many. who t
ON actual and wide experience .nd ]
are not competent 20 t
rite or speak on the subject n, all
dangerously and wrongfullv mis- p
and IL doing an n,,ch - y