The Springfield herald., 1915-04-16
A Weekly Talk
On Dry Farming


! On Dry Farming.
A precipitation such a. we BID this
last season comes only once in fifty
years: but it makes little difference if
it never comes again for crops may be
raised every year If the farmer knows
how. ..
1.-The above text. taken from the Denver West-
srn Farm Life, we shall kssp at the head Of these
talks for the volume of fact that is boiled down
in the few words there is In i'll.
The First Settlement
And Why 1t Failed.
Twenty-nine years ago, a little
earlier than this time, the editor
of the Herald found the lane. he
wantedin what is now Baca coun-
ty. and in May took up bis res
idence thereon. Along in June
some stragglers followed snit a
cross the line, and later in the
summer and fall the great rush
was on .l
Why that settlement failed can
be better understood by what
has already been said in thesn
talks. particularly of the rainfall
dry weather crops, and the diff
ference between old snd new.
ground.
The ono to-be-remembere't
characteristic of the mental atti
tude of those first settlers WA !;
their unbonnled faith
in the certainty of everything
including the rainfall, and tn ,
ultimateness of the courtry in !"
general way; and, it may be said,
that this unbounded faith partic.
ularly as to the rainfall was the
corner stone of their undoing.
The writer didn't have any
edge on the rest of those old tim,
ers in the belief that it would
here rain on the just and unjust
the same as it did back east. We
all believed it, and on that belief
We proceeded with the undertak-
ing of building up the country.
We are not in sympathy with
the sentiment sometimes ex-
pressed that the first settlers
didn't come here to stay. There
are always a certain per cent Of
homestead settlers who file with
the intention of proving up and
selling for what they can get, the
first settlement here in that re.
spect being practically as is the
present settlement.
The one great reason why the
first settlement failed is that it
deos't rain here as often as they
expected It would, anG. as it does
back east. Had they known this
they could have been better pre-
pared to p eet the conditions, and
no doubt a great many of those
who left would have held on un-
til their ground could be stored
with the deep moisture that add
ed years of cultivation give to it.
The third reason for the fail
ure is that at that time no mortal
had dreamed that by right cul-
tural methods one drop of wa
ter could be made tc go as far as
half a dozen drops by wrong
|cultual methods.
The fourth and last that we
shall here give is that at that
time no mortal had ever stopped
to think that by reason. uf their
root system some plants could
stand more drouth than others.
For this reason those innocent
first settles planted corn and
nothing else.
Going back to our text, good
crops can be grown here every
year if the farmer knows how;
and carrying this back to that
first settlem ent, the reason they
failed is that they didn't know a
single letter in the 'how" alpha
bet.
School Report
Report of attendance of the
Lone Rock school for the month
beginning March Is, 1915, and en-.
ding April 9, 1915. No. of pu-
pills enrolled IL
Average attendance 10
No. of .tardy marks
Pupils having perfect attendance
for the entire month are as fol-
lows;
CHoo Rockhill