Elmore County Republican. [volume] (Mountain Home, Idaho) 1910-1915, 1913-11-15
THE NATIONAL
LESSON AT TULSA
THE DRY FARMING CONGRESS-
WAS NOT A CONGRESS
OF DRY FARMERS
BY Douglas Malcolm VI the ! H g
Garvica RiIrpau

BY Douglas Malcolm VI the j II 9
Service Bureau
Omitting the brass bands, the mill
tary display, the fireworks both py-
rotechnical and verbal, the Eighth In
ternationaI Dry Farming Congress
which was held at Tulsa, Okla, from
October 20 to 81, inclusive, marked
another milestone of that progress
which should be the goal of every ia
mer and farmers wife of the North
ern Hemisphere. 1t was the most
stupendous testimony to the mo
dern theory of agriculture,
that head work plus hand work mean
success, that the writer ever witness
ed. From origins which as recently
as ten. years ago were considered
leagues beyond the deadline came
wheat weighing 621a pounds to the
bushels and 38 bushels to the acre
potatoes weighing over pounds each
sqaashes over 3 feet long, alfalfa
making tons to the acre; and corn
hat would make the average corn
belt farmer envious and sad.
Five large buildings were requir-
cd to furnish sufficient room for the
exhibits which poured in, not only
from states and counties. but from
Individual farmers. Many thousand
dollars, much farm machinery, and
several cups were awarded as prizes
70 the various exhibitors. But these
awards and prizes were merely Sym
ools-badges of recognition. The
real winners as shown by the Con-
gress, were the two nations, Canada
and the United States-winners in
that the, food problem was being
solved within their borders, and win
lers in the possession of rural, pop
llation with the spirit to brave UNI
friendly natural conditions and the
GRAINS to conquer them.
The American farmer, since first
he stretched his hand out to McCor-.
mick for his reaper, has stood apart
4rom other nations because Of his
progressiveness. He has stood apart,
also, because of his ingratitude to
the soil upon which he depended.
Land which in England or France ha
been yielding bountifully for thou
sand years would have been hope
lessly depleted in generation by the
average methods followed in this
country.
The Dry Farming Congress, from
the speeches Of the illustrous agri-
culturists who were there, was an
indirect but deadly protest against
American carelessne SIS in farm meth
DDS. 1t was shown at Tulsa that a
man who is familiar with the general
farming from Florida to the Dakotas,
dry farming is nothing more nor less
than applying, to land which suffers
from lack of rain, principles which
produce the best results when apple
% land enjoying rain.
1t was nationwide lesson on good
ul rules of good farming were
'arming. 1t proved that the cuccess-
good rules of successful farming
The pioneer settlers ON practically del
,ert land were left to demonstrate
~ practical results what farm jour-
lals, government schools and the SER
yice bureaus of the big machine COM
sanies have tried to teach, that the
of farming are deeper
flowing, better cultivation, more ami
nal fertilizer, and better seed selec-
ion. It was claimed by those who
lad experimental for years that in
'reaking up the sod it. is. more pro-
table to turn it under from. 10 to IL
inches than from to inches, which
5 the popular depth. j BY actual ex
'eriment between two acres in the
anne field, land treated by. deep til
age yielded $100. more in. produce
n 10 years than a similar acre plowe
! inches. In another case in
out the value of humus as
factor in increasing the, water hold
ng power OF soils, 1t was found that
n 100 pounds Of ordinary, sandy soil
here was 10 pounds Of water, while
n the other hand, the same amount
( garden soil, well filled with hum
s. contained 50 pounds Of water, or
early three times as much. BY
eep blowing before rains, followed
y good cultivation to save the STORED
,ater, the amount Of water avail
bile for plants can be increase near
pA ~. r.