The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1912-08-06
DRY FARMING IN WYOMING.

Mr.. Paul s. Richards had in The
Forum for May an article shown &
that sheep raising in Wyoming Is a
precarious business. In that same
article he referred rather contemptu
ously TO dry farming as a "trsgic
Joke.
Now comes Mr.. John r. Burns,
Executive Secretary Treasurer of the
International Dry Farming Congress,
count of that unwarv expression. 1t
was unkiud in Mr.. Richards to speak
Of dry farming as a tragic joke, even
though II NAV be so In some parts Of
Wyoming, Generally speaking, how.
ever, dry farming is marked with sue
cess far beyond all expectation where
conditions are favorable and where the
proper methods are applied. The Tr,b-
nue has stood Loyalty by the dry
farming interests, has approved the sp.
preparation Of money by this State
to put in experimental dry farms, and
in every way has supported the dry
farming propaganda. And vet it is
impossible for us to see how Mr.. Burns
can maintain the proposition which he
sets forth in his article in the August
Forum, where he says that "mapy of
the best crops in the West are produced
at an altitude of from $500 to 800
feet Some Of the best corn in the
world has been produced at an altitude
of $500 feet and these rapchers are
producing an average Of 50 to 65
bushels per acre annually at this alti.
tude, y No wonder Mr.. Richards says
of this: Certainly the corn crops
mentioned by Mr.. Burns must have
been raised in a section of the country
where the seasons are much longer
than they are in Wyoming and under
conditions of which ! am not ia.
miliar.' We should say so, indeed!
The crop of so to So bushels of corn
per acre on dry farms as claimed by
Mr.. Burns is from two and half to
three times as much as the average
corn yield in the United States; and to
say that the average corn yield in the
United States can be so largely in.
creased on dry farms in this latitude
and altitude would seem to be beyond
reason.
Mr., Richards commenting upon Mr..
Burns s claim in this respect, says
None will welcome with greater Joy
than Western stockmen of ''the old
regime, the proof Of his assertion that
arid West is susceptible OF successfuI
agriculture. and that II will grow an
average crop Of fifty to sixty-five bushels
tbc ~ corn obocost 20 the r.a acre As stockmen own
should be worth from $50 to SIS an acre
II II VIII grow such crops, We can afford
70 sell our stock and retire from business
4 MT Burns can make good As mat
ter OF fact however. some OF these lands
controlling thousands Of acres OF outside
range by reason OF the water upon them.
can noW be bought for So an acre.
there has not fallen enough moisture 10
sro~ a good crop of native grass, II is
Ia king our powers OF creduity rather
heavily to ask us to believe that agricuI
ture con De successfully practiced under
such conditions.
II is not enough that there shall be
good soil and good tillage TO raise
corn. There must be also a favorable
and plenty OF moisture and
warm weather. But as rule, the cool
nights in all this mountain region
dwarf the corn, and nowhere in all
this mountain region is corn favorIte
or heavy crop. II can be raised,
10 be sure, and is raised to a fair per-
centage of the total agricultural
yield, but in dry farming the favorite
crops are roots and the smaller grains.
Mr., Burns does the dry-farming inter.
est no service BY making such extrava.
CANT claims in its behalf