Graham guardian., 1912-01-12
DRY LAND EXTREMISTS

Some Unknown Quantity Gov.
erns the Returns.
Men Who Spend Much TIme In City
Office Not Competent to, Write on
Intricate Subject az Those
In Close Contact.
To see thirty or forty bushels Of
grain on dry land with but fifteen
inches Of rainfall. and then drive fol
miles through fields that will not give
back the seed 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 flrst
largely governs the returns from dry
farming.
We have recently come across even
more extreme differences than the
ones noted. We have sesr good to
abundant crops on seemingly as dry
land as could be found--with but little
attention given to dry farming meth.
ods; while not far from It almost to
tai failure whore every mechanical de-
tail of dry farming had been carefully
carried out. says the Dakota Farmer
These things convince sus more than
ever that men who spend most oi
their time in a city office-or who
visit but one or two strips of country
ARE not so competent to write upon
this intricate subject as are some oi
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,
and make assertions altogether too
general. and that are not only mis-.
leading. but that we know are not
true.
We arc glad to note that there IL q
more frank admitting, by very many
Of these teachers and experimenters,
that It takes certain amount Of
moisture In all soils to grow crop
and that moisture has to come from
the heavens. from the subsoil or be
conserved by accumulation. and tha,
moisture cannot be created where Il
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 At
teen inches Of rainfall It is easy ia
make glowing assertions. that are true
enough with many soils and subsoils
but to get onto a dry. hard-baked
prairie. with an almost impervious
subsoil unless II does hold that pecu.
liar quality which responds 80 quickly
to culture and make It produce at all
worth while, is quite another thing
There is much dry soil which will
never do It, 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 everywhere-to-be-found IN
dividual successes and shut our eyes
to 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
there is another and larger side to II
all. and our sympathies go out to the
man who must experiment long and
patiently at his own expense before
he knows whether his land will re.
spond to dry farming methods or not
whether yields SUFFICIENT will come to
him >on his own particular piece oi
dry land to pay for every other year
tillage. and the extra labor and ex-
pense, he must go to before he can
hope to equal ordinary farm land re-
turns.
In the great Golden Valley. stretch.
ing north and south Of Beach and WI
baux on the North Dakota and Mon,
tana line. we are told that the yields
compare favorably with those Of the
Red River Valley. This we know to
be true. at least for some seasons. for
we have rode over both valleys from
end to end more than once: but dry
farming Is not practiced by one farm,
er in hundred In Golden Valley.
but Judith Basin" we are asked
doesn't that yield?" True. but one
can ride for miles there without and.
Ing man who even knows what dry
farming means. much less practices It
Those sections have a soil peculiar
to themselves. and when combined
with slightly greater. and usually
more seasonable rainfall than the
country on either side OF them, have
brought forth excellent crops with the
most inexcusably haphazard farming
we ever saw. It is distinctly dishon.
est to point to these sections. or 9th.
ers like them. as proofs Of what dry
farming will do.
We take second place with no man
for the high regard in which we hold
dry farming and most dry farming
teachers: but do say that the sweep,
Ing assertions made by many. who
from actual and wide experience and
observation, are not competent to
write or speak on the subject at all,
is dangerously and wrongfully mis-.
leading. and Is doing as much to hin.
der the cause OF dry farming as all