36 DRY FARMING IN THE GREAT BASIN. 



with irrigfition usually costs more per acre than dry farming, so that 

 wherever it is possible to grow the cheaper staple crops without irriga- 

 tion it pays to make the attempt. The products of the irrigated land, 

 such as vegetables, fruits, and the succulent forage crops, then find 

 a larger local market, because they can not be produced without irri- 

 gation, while live stock and some grain crops can often be produced 

 much more cheaply on the dry lands. Thus the two portions of a 

 community can supplement each other to the profit of both. 



One of the most important effects of the development of dry farm- ' 

 ing adjacent to an irrigation settlement is the much-needed lesson it 

 teaches of the value of tillage. Overirrigation with little or no tillage 

 is the most common and serious failing of the western farmer. It 

 is only where irrigation water is costly or can not be had at any price 

 and when crops actually begin to fail that cultivation is seriously 

 resorted to. As a result, it is only in those sections where irrigation 

 is very new or where water is very scarce that the serious effects of 

 overirrigation are not felt. Once the habit is formed, it is much 

 easier to irrigate than to cultivate when a crop shows signs of distress. 

 The ground is therefore filled with water, low places are swamped or 

 made too alkaline for cro^js, and the fertility of the land is seriously 

 impaired. 



With the development of dry farming, however, the beneficial 

 effects of tillage in conserving moisture and in increasing soil fer- 

 tility give a constant and striking object lesson. When it becomes 

 apparent that many of the same crops can be grown with adequate 

 cultivation and without irrigation as successfully as they can be 

 grown with irrigation alone, a farmer hesitates before undertaking 

 to share the burden of expensive extensions to existing irrigation 

 works. When the extension of a cultivated area is demanded, it 

 becomes at once a practical question whether increased cultivation 

 or increased construction shall be the basis of such extension. AVlier- 

 ever cultivation is resorted to in connection Avith irrigation the bene- 

 fits are at once apparent, but without some continued object lesson or 

 some real need, such as scarcity of irrigation water, it is seldom 

 seriouslj^ undertaken. 



MAKING A HOME ON THE DRY LANDS. 



In any situation where dry farming is possible in connection with 

 even a small amount of irrigation, there is much less risk involved 

 than where there are no such opportunities. In fact, in any place 

 where the rainfall is so light as to require extraordinary tillage 

 methods in the production of ordinary crops there is considerable risk 

 in establishing a home without the possibility of using irrigation for 

 at least the farm garden. In nearly every semiarid region the varia- 



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