Evening star., 1936-09-27
Drought Experience Has
Its Value.
BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN.


ment is regarded as somewhat narrow,
unless the diCtunn that all men are fools
be accepted, for often 1t is the wise man
who learns more from experience than
the fool.
Certainly the observers Of the Depart.
ment of Agriculture feel that the ex.
perience gained by American farmers
in 1884 and other recent dry years will
prove Of great value to them in the
months to follow. With the earlier ex-
perience behind them, the farmers will
be far better able to cope with the prob
lens now presented. Indeed, to some
extent, the department thinks, farmers
can capitalize on the disaster and pluck
q few plumes Of victory from defeat.
The Department of Agriculture has
many correspondents and Investigators
constantly in the field and, in such an
emergency period, many Of them are
concentrated in the emergency regions.
With such contact with the men actually
on the land, the department is better
able to see through the dust clouds and
assess probabilities.
Droughts are not new phenomena In
the United States, but the weather, run
ming in cycles, brings alternating periods
of wet and dry. 1t is the farmer of the
younger generations and the farmer who
has more or less newly taken to the land
to whom extensive drought seems some
fresh visitation. But there are old men
who remember when, in Ohio, for ex
ample, where drought has been severe
again this year, farmers cut down trees
in order that live stock might Craze
on the still more or less green top foliage.
The grass was gone and there was no
other feed.
There are more people on farms today
than ever before in the history of the
country. There was a strong movement
from city to farm when the great de-
preston set in. People who could not
find work in the cities thought they
would try their hands at farming where,
they fondly believed, they could always
raise enough to eat, even though they
made no cash returns. For such as these
the severe aridity of 1884 was q first
experience. 1t was something they had
not taken into their calculations. They
fioundered and muddled and thousands
upon thousands were in the most pitable
distress.
4 4
In some manner they managed to get
through the experience and the ex-
perience has become an asset. For
many producers" the Department of
Agriculture says, 1884 was the first ex-
perience of its kind. The experience is
fresh in the minds of most farmers and
it will be an asset which will not go to
waste" An Illuminating observation of
the department Is: conversations with
farmers who are now face to face with
feed shortages turn quickly to recital
of their experience in 1884"
Feed shortage is one of the great men
aces Of drought. The American live
stock production constitutes one Of its
greatest sources of agricultural wealth.
Cattle must have grass and hogs must
have corn If they are to survive and be
successfully marketed. Although corn
Is one of the three greatest American
crops, but a small fraction is sold as
grain. 1t is sold in the form OF hogs.
When dry weather burns the grass and
kills the corn. there is no natural feed
for the animals. Feed must be brought
in from elsewhere. 1t is dismaying for
farmer to see his incidental crops
burned up. but it is disastrous to see
his feed crops taken by the sun.
The department finds that one of the
outstanding lessons of the 1884 drought
was in feed utilization. In some coun-
ties, of course, scarcely a stalk Of any
thing has been grown, but in others
there have been scanty productions. The
1884 experience taught the farmers, espe-
tall hn nI 1oe-
sons in preserving what little feed they
were able to garner. New combinations
of feed have been worked out, often
with the aid of department experts.
Careful rationing has been learned. In
previous years of relative plenty, there
was deal of waste which now is saved
and, in some manner. utilized.
The department observes: Generally
the farmers are now much more able to
measure their feed resources in terms
of animal units and to make better plans
for the handling and marketing of live
stock"
The numbers of live stock are fewer
than they were in 1884 and. TO that
extent, the problem is contracted. Also
the consumer demand Is stronger. The
purchasing power of the people today is
much stronger than it was in 1884. Per-
sons who could afford little or no meat
now have wages which enable them to
exert an effectuai demand. Then, too,
farmers are generally in better financial
shape than they were in 1884. A. A. A.
benefit payments have been husbanded
by not few Of them. They are in a
position to import feeds from distant
and better supplied places, and their
credit has improved.
The 1884 experience taught many to
exercise greater care in carrying over
larger supplies of feed, wasting nothing.
AS Spring neared and the promise Of a
new growing season appeared, some
farmers were inclined to waste feed,
certain of an influx of fresh supplies.
They have learned not to rely too much
on a new season. The year. 1885, was
an improvement over 1884 and 1t was
possible for some farmers to store feed.
The severity Of last Winter caused them
to draw heavily on their stores, but they
are in better case, for the most part,
than they were after 1884.
A great deal depends on the coming
Winters weather If frosts are late, If
snowfall is delayed. the situation will
not be desperate. But if these weather
phenomena come early, farmers will
have to begin to draw on their stores,
to buy feed and otherwise commence
depletion Of their resources.
As never before, farmers are watching
price trends. The experience Of 1884 is
remembered-how live stock was rushed