238 THE LURE OF THE LAND 



shortened in its growth, and thus made somewhat diffi- 

 cult of harvest. The heads have also been very short 

 and not well filled. 



This present season, 1914, May started with a prom- 

 ise of the most wonderful clover and wheat crop that 

 had ever been seen. From the fifth of May until the 

 thirteenth of June there was hardly sufficient rain to 

 lay the dust. The contrast was made greater by the 

 fact that the spring had been excessively wet, and much 

 of the plowing had been done when the ground was too 

 wet for that purpose. The result was cloddy fields. 

 Indian corn planted after the twentieth of May in many 

 cases failed to germinate. The wheat was suddenly 

 cut short in its growth but nevertheless yielded a boun- 

 tiful harvest. The clover, which promised a phenom- 

 enal yield, was cut down to less than a ton per acre, 

 and the pastures, which should be green at this season, 

 were dry and brown. 



This condition of affairs, as I have said, has been 

 encountered in four seasons out of five. The problem 

 of dry farming, therefore, is one which is peculiarly 

 important to the farmer situated, as I am, in a region 

 of usually abundant rains, but which is subject at some 

 period of the growing season every year to injury by 

 drought. 



FIRST OFFICIAL EXPERIMENT IN DRY FARMING. 



The subject of dry farming has received a consider- 

 able degree of attention from the Department of Agri- 

 culture. Crops of considerable magnitude have been 

 grown on areas which a few years ago were supposed 

 only to afford foliage in the early part of the year. I 

 recall in this connection the first experiment made by 

 the Department of Agriculture, in so far as I know, in 



