The Beaver herald. [volume] (Beaver, O.T. [Okla.]) 1895-1923, 1911-04-27
DRY FARMING ISSUE
Movement Has Direct Value in
Application to East.
Never Have Good Agriculture Until
Farmer Prepares for Dry Times
Just as Consciously as He Ooss
for the Winter.

Just as Consciously as ne Ooes
for the Winter.
am convinced that the dry farm
Ing movement has direct value in it's
application 20 eastern as well as vest
ern conditions The movement Is
necessary. and therefore worth while,
IN its western applications alone, ana
I'm its bearing on the welfare OF those |
regions II should appeal TO all the peo- |
pie; but Il also has a bearing on agri' /
culture in the entire country such as I
our people do not yet understand.
We habitually associate dry farm |
ing" with dry regions; but the conser-
walton Of water lies also at the founda-
ton Of agriculture in most humid re-
I pions. as well as in semi-artd regions
/ for the crop in humid regions Is very
generally determined by the pinch OF
the dry SPELL or drought, writes l..
H. Bailey. director of the New YORK
State College OF Agriculture at Cornell
university. in the Dry Farming Con-
gress Bulletin As the strength OF
wall Is measured by its weakest
course, so is the crop-producing power
Of the year determined, under prevail
ing farming methods, by the poorest
or least effective growing month.
Farmers In the semi-arid regions
are compelled to save the rainfall. and
they prepare a definite program of
conservation, making this pr'eram
part OF their reckoning. But the
farmer in humid regions usually
makes little or no allowance or
reckoning for drought, and when II
comes he is caught; and yet the
drought and not the rainfall deter
} mines his crops.
We shall never have a good agricul'
ture until the farmer prepares for dry
, times and drought just as consciously
as he prepares for winter. The dry
; spell" OF summer Is usually consid
. cred 10 be calamity; it is probable
p that a properly regulated system oi
! husbandry would make such spells &c
: be advantageous.
The annual precipitation at Ithaca
in central New York. is approximately
80 inches; yet there is record OF
year with a rainfall Of only 2l.2l
inches. The average recorded yearl!
rainfall for the state OF New Horl
ranges from 81 inches down to 2s II
inches, and II we exclude Long lslan'
with its more uniform precipitation
: the minimum becomes about 26l
= inches, or approaching closely to DIR
!, farming conditions. There are part
OF the state in which the mean pre-
!, cipitation over a series of years
y. under 23 inches.
% | have before me the records for 4
NJ years Of one station in western Ne
York. with an annual average OF 27.5
y. inches. in which there are four year
with a total precipitation of less tha
:. 20 inches lone year only 1914 inches
=, ~ and two years with total OF 20.o2 an
~ 2O.61. Were It not for other aids tina
10 rainfall OF the particular year (theI
le Is probably low evaporation due
VI proximity OF large bodies of waite
- and water is held in the soil fro
'o other years., this would be a sen
as arid place; for a region is usual
,u held to be semi.arid II its precipit
III ton is less than 20 inches.
~, II is the precipitation of the gro
NJ ing months" however, that largely d
DC termines the crop. In the dry secti'
as Just mentioned. there are 26 years
the As in which the monthly rainf;
'o' was less than one and one-half inch
III (which is very dry) in one or more
Be the months Of May, June, July, A
nu gust; and there are ten other years
which the rainfall in one or more
these months was between two inc
and one and one-half inches (whi
iat usually indicates droughty conditions
we Even at Ithaca. with its mean preci
so tation Of about 3S inches (and ma
ma mum OF about 46la) there are
ler years out OF SO in which the rainf
was less than one and one-half inch
olu in one or more OF these four grOwi
MS months, and IA other years in which
zen was less than two inches, making
years in the 80 Cor about three-tift
AK OF the years. in which droughty c,
'eH ditions prevailed. Even in a secti
the in western New York with a mean
ust nual precipitation of 44ls inches auC
the maximum Of 59is, there were I
as years out Of 90 in which the rainf
was less than two inches in one
more OF the four growing months.
to these four main growing mon
oil were added April and September
Ws, the foregoing figures OF droughty c
ana dltions would be more marked.
ing