FARM PRACTICES TN THE "RECTON. 23 



been common lo drill <^r:un riu;ht into the stu})ble without any soil 

 j)reparation. 



Shiftless as tliese methods may seem, it is hardly safe to so char- 

 acterize them. These old settlers are not, as a rule, shiftless, but are 

 energetic, practical, and oj)timistic. Many of them before going to 

 the semiarid country were good farmers in more humid sections; the 

 methods which they use have been reluctantly resorted to after 

 long experience and are not without some merit. Their methods are 

 to be considered as adaptations to the existing conditions. In reply 

 to questions concerning these practices a common response is, "If 

 the season is good anything will produce a crop, and if it is bad noth- 

 ing will do an}' gootl. If I do good work I lose it either way." So 

 far as the methods of cultivation common in humid sections are 

 concerned, this statement is not without at least a coloring of truth. 

 The principle has been to cover the largest possible acreage with the 

 least possible work and expense. Some failures, many light crops, 

 and a few large crops have been obtained; yet the evidence is that 

 where the rainfall is from 18 to 20 inches corn and wheat have been 

 produced at about the same cost per bushel as in eastern Nebraska 

 and eastern Kansas. It must not, however, be concluded from this 

 that farming has been as profitable on the average as farther east. 

 There are many disadvantages connected with crop failure besides 

 the loss of the crop itself. It is a great disadvantage to have to tide 

 over one or two seasons at any time without a crop. There are also 

 many social disadvantages connected with living in a sparsely settled 

 country, often at long distances from markets, schools, and churches. 



These conditions and practices make large areas necessary for the 

 support of a family; but large areas have usuall}^ been available. 

 Grazing land has been free or obtainable at a nominal rental, and 

 very little feed has been used, even during the winter. Yet on the 

 whole the condition of the settlers has been far from satisfactory, 

 especially when the rainfall is less than IS inches. If these men had 

 been confined to the use of their own lands existence would hardly 

 have been possible. 



Within the last few years a number of important changes have 

 taken place. Larger and better machinery has come into use; the 

 hand separator and the centralized creamery have made a market 

 for cream at every station; new crops have been introduced, f^urum 

 wheat, which gives a better average yield than other spring wheats 

 and a much better yield in dry seasons, has become a common crop 

 from Kansas north. Turkey Red winter wheat has advanced into 

 the dry country and by the use of the press drill and better methods 

 of cultivation is made, in many counties, a much more ])roductive 

 crop than spring varieties ever were. This is especially true of a 



215 



