LOCAL CONDITIONS WHICH AFFECT DRY FARMING. 15 



the labor required, Avhether of men or teams, is employed by the dav 

 or by tlie liour from near-by farms. Xo live stock is kept on the 

 farms. 



On each of these farms systematic experiments have been planned 

 with a view to working out some of the more important tillage and 

 crop i^roblems, both general and local. The land is laid off in long, 

 narrow strips, which are subdivided crosswise into plats ranging 

 from one-fifth to one-third of an acre in size. Except for a fcAv 

 experiments, these strips or series of plats are alternately put in 

 crop and given a clean summer fallow. Plate I, figure 1, shows one of 

 these experiment farms with the' alternate series in crop and in 

 fallow, while Plate II, figure 1, shows a portion of one of the fallow 

 series and the Avay the surface mulch is maintained. The plans of 

 the experiments and descriptions of the stations have been ])ublished 

 by the Utah Agricultural Experiment Station, and the reports of re- 

 sults obtained are to be published from time to time, as required by 

 the law under which they were established." 



These experiment stations, representing as they do a variety of 

 conditions Avithin the State, promise to be of great value in solving 

 some of the problems of dr^?^ farming, particularly if they can be 

 continued for a considerable length of time. Erom the fact that 

 the same general plan of experiments is being followed on each of 

 them, opportunity is offered to get a perspective on the results that 

 would be quite impossible with only one or two such stations. In 

 addition to this, these farms serve in a measure as demonstrations 

 of what can be done and how best to do it in each of the sections where 

 they are located. Such demonstrations are of the greatest value to 

 a community, for the lessons of proper tillage methods for moisture 

 conservation are hard to learn except b}^ costly experiment or con- 

 tinued observation. 



LOCAL CONDITIONS WHICH AFFECT DRY FARMING. 



From the standpoint of dry farming the most important feature of 

 climate is the precipitation; its amount, its distribution through 

 the year, the variation in amount from year to year, and the way it 

 falls — whether chiefly as snow, as frequent light showers, or as oc- 

 casional torrential rains. These factors are, of course, all closelj'^ 

 interrelated with others, such as temperature, atmospheric humidity, 

 wind movement, and the character of the soil. 



The success or failure of dry farming in the Great Basin is largely 

 influenced by local conditions of climate and soil, so that a careful 



o"Arid Farming in Utah," Bui. 91. Expt. Sta., Utab, January, 1905, and 

 " Memorandum of Plans for Arid Farm Investigations," Circulars No. 1 and 3, 

 Expt. Sta., Utah. April. 1904. and April, 1905. 



28529— No. 103— 07 m 3 



