The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1916-05-19


century will solve problem in Bling
ham county that Is as important tG
them as it would be to the irrigators
to have the climate change to 9
humid or rainy country, or as i'm.
portant to the business interests as II
would be to solve such problem as
whether the price of automobiles
and gasoline should drop to one-hal1
of what they are, and remain there
The Birth of Dry Farming
The problem we refer to is dry
farming in the great desert occupy
ing all the western end of the county
and parts of the adjoining counties.
The first ventures in this kind of
farming began few years ago, and
were receiving very little attention
in the year 1910. In the year 1916
several hundred people have staked
all they have on the experiment
Most of them comparatively poor
people, and dry farming does not rep
resent q large amount of capital, but
when many people invest all they
have and then invest years of the best
part of their lives in the enterprise
it becomes a serious matter.
Many Fail, Few Succeed
At the present time there are very
few men who will go up in an aero
plane, and they are regarded as being
a little different from other people;
somewhat nutty or they wouldn't do
1t, is the common expression. To
the general public, the man who
tackles dry farming in the big desert
is in the same category. In the eyes
of the average business man he is a
poor risk. We predict that by the
year 1920 there will have been many
cases of misgivings and repentance.
Many a dry farmer will have aband-
Oned his claim or sold it for song.
Many across the fence will have made
big money and shown the Indifferent
merchant that his checks were good
as we'll as his orders by mail. Many
a merchant will be driving out to
view dry farmers possessions and
asking, "How did you do it,"
Dry Farmers are a Puzzle
Humanity is always up a stump
or about to go up. You can't look at
dry farmers and pick the winners.
Now and then we find one who has
studied scientific dry farming, who
has read all there is to read on the
on the subject. who can walk into
a nd y4oIx
and tell what is wrong and how to
right it, can advise his neighbors
so they can push on to success, yet
If you look at his own field you may
find fiat failure. No sir, you can't
tell. You may go to claim and find
a lazy fellow sitting in the shade of
water wagon blowing smoke thru
his nose. He may tell you he didn't
put out much crop this year because
he wasn't able. He takes you out
and shows you his little field and
admits that he isn't taking care of
it right because he hasn't the time.
He knows he could double the yield
by doing certain things to it. but
he can't get around to it and will
have to take the smaller yield. You
classify him with the Arkansas trave-
Ter and in the fall of the next year
buys his neighbors fahm and drills
a deep we'll thru the lava beds and
installs pumping plant where the
water wagon stood. These dry
farmers are funny fellows. If you
are about to loan money among
them, label yourself gambler and
go to it; some of them will pay you
back. Others can't
The Man With Flaw
There is only one way to get
line ON which will fail and which
will succeed, and that may be modi-
fed by flaw in the man. During
the rush to the Klondike, a man
who was sturdily pulling his sled
over summit at eleven o'clock
strong, enthusiastic and daring,
might lose his nerve at one o'clock,
sell or give away his outfit, and at
three come "bellering" back over
the summit headed for home. We
know dry farmer who left his crop
last summer and f1guratively kissed
it goodbye, after spending two years
on the job. But his loss of nerve
was intermittent. A few weeks later