112 



THE YEAR OF DROUCHT. 



The prospect of a year of drought is the favorite topic of con- 

 versation for those lukewarm Laodiceans who, by idle criticism, 

 vainly try to check the progress of dry-farming. Drought to the 

 intelhgent dry-farmer is no more than a passing storm to the skil- 

 ful mariner at sea. Before us lie two authentic records of farms 

 where the year of drought brings no dismay. These records are 

 taken from the admirable work on dry- farming of the most 

 eminent American authority, Dr. John H. Widtsoe of Utah. The 

 first farm belongs to Senator Barnes of Utah, and is situated 

 in the Salt Lake V'alley. The climate is semi-arid, the summers 

 are dry and the evaporation large. Over a period of nineteen 

 years crop and rainfall records have been most carefully kept. 

 There has been only one crop failure, and that was the first, when 

 the land was not yet properly tilled. The heaviest crop of wheat, 

 29.8 bushels, was harvested in the year 1902, when next to the 

 lowest rainfall occurred, which varied from 10.33 inches to 18.36 

 inches. Moisture-saving fallows followed every crop. 



A second and equally instructive record is furnished by the 

 Government Experiment Farm at Indian Head in Saskatchewan, 

 Canada. Here also reliable records have been kept for the same 

 period — viz., nineteen years. Not a single crop failure is re- 

 corded. The highest yield was forty-nine bushels to the acre, 

 the lowest seventeen. During this period the rainfall varied from 

 3.9 to 20.22 inches (snowfall not included — varying from 1.3 

 inches to 2.3 inches of water). Here also moisture-saving fal- 

 lows followed every crop. 



These experiments clearly show that the year of drought need 

 not be feared when the principles of dry-farming are properly 

 carried out. In the conservation of soil moisture lies the ultimate 

 conquest of drought. And in place of the barren desert, aban- 

 doned homes, and dying cattle, wc can now paint a new and 

 glowing picture. There, under a serene and cloudless sky. lies a 

 ]janorama of green and chocolate-brown — mile after mile the 

 growing wheat and the deep-stirred, water-holding fallow. No 

 rain may fall for many a day, but the husbandman is untroubled. 

 ]''or he knows that his seed has fallen upon good ground, and that, 

 from far below, those life-streams are flowing ever upward which 

 will carry his hundredfold corn white luUo the harvest. 



