The Black Hills union and western stock review. [volume] (Rapid City, S.D.) 1904-19??, 1911-02-10
DRY FARMING EXPERIMENTS
IN WYOMING

years director OF Wyoming Exper1-
ment Station, at Dry Farming Con
gress, Pierre. s., D.
! There is a little over 6O,000,00o
acres of land in Wyoming. 1t is es-
| timated that 100000 acres are
forest reserves, and nearly one-hali
the balance of the state comes with
in the region of IL 1-2 inches OF
rainfall. The average annual precip-
itation for the state is about Is IL
inches. The average elevation of the
state is about 5000 feet and no part
of it is below 5000 feet. These fig
ures reduce the possibilities of profit
table dry farming TO somewhat linn
tied area of the state which a vast
expanse of the state which will al
ways remain untouched by the set
tiers pillow.
Along the eastern and northeast
ern borders and in the extreme south
west are considerable areas which
have already responded to the till
ers call and furnished homes to set
lers who have a justified hope OF
success and prosperity.
With the spread of the dry farm
ing gospel the state of Wyoming
early set out to determine the merits
of the system by securing the servi-
ces of DR.. " T. Cooke, an expert in
Dry Farming, and beginning a sys-
tematic plan of Investigations. The
state experiment state in co-opera-
ton with the U. S. Department of
Agriculture undertook experimental
work on farms at Cheyenne and New
Castle. These experiments are all
(still in progress but complete reports
have not yet been published The
state dry farm is still being operated
at Cheyenne and the state is still
conducting many demonstration plots
on private farms in all parts of the
state.
| Citizens have been dry farm
ing with success in the eastern part
of the state for over 20 years.
| From the reports of farmers and
preliminary results from the expert
mental farms, the following conclu-
sions may be mentioned as practical
| ly fixed:
1. With rainfall of Is inches or
more and an elevation of less than
5000 feet man can make a fair
| living, and even more on a half sec
ton of land.
2. With IL to Is inches precipi-
tation and 5000 feet elevation there
is good prospect of success although
the farmer must be prepared for oc-
casional failure.
| 3. Profitable returns must not be
expected until the second or third
year.
4. Summer filling of land and
cropping alternate years, only, is bet
ter than annual cropping. That is,
one sure good crop every other year
| is better economy than gambling with
possible complete failure and certain
lighter yield from the land every
year.
5. Oats, barley, rye winter wheat,
duran wheat, spelts, potatoes field
peas, bronze grass and alfalfa thus
far have been the most profitable
crops. Turkey red winter Wheat
and beardless barley are recommend
ed.
6. 1t seems imperative that the
dry farmer should keep as much live
stock as possible, and make, con-
serve and apply all the farm manure
the crops and animals will produce.
z. Dry farming to produce hay
and grain for the large ranches is
one of it's most prospective outlooks.
The meagre returns from cultivated
area may furnish the necessary food
to carry the ranchman's stock thru
a short severe spell in winter
Wyoming early interested herself
in the Dry Farming Congress. The
LnlrQ Dry Farming congress was nein
in the city of Cheyenne in February
1909. Two expresidents of this
great congress are citizens of the
state. ex-governor iB. B. Brooks
and Congressman F. w. Mondell
! To Congressman F. w. Mondel
is due the credit of enacting several
laws which have been helpful to the
Dry Farmer. Chief among these
laws are the enlarged or 800 acre
homestead. Mr.. Mondell is an en-
thusiastic dry farmer and has beer
been practicing the system for ovel
20 years.
TO CONSIDER FISHERIES