DRY FARMING 239 



the principles of dry farming. During the seasons 

 from 1885 to 1902 I was in charge of experiments in 

 the production of sugar and syrups from sorghum, sugar 

 cane and sugar beets, in various parts of the United 

 States. A model factory for the production of sugar 

 from sorghum was erected at Medicine Lodge, Kan- 

 sas. This was in the midst of the season of lean years 

 in that State, where whole townships in the western 

 portion of the states were depopulated by reason of a 

 series of years of little rain. 



Sorghum is a dry farming crop. I have called it, 

 and I think appropriately, the camel among cereals. 

 Its first growth is slow and precarious. When once, 

 however, its root system is developed, it will grow and 

 thrive where Indian corn will wilt and shrivel. The 

 sorghum for the experimental work was grown upon 

 the farm of Eli Benedict, adjoining Medicine Lodge, 

 Kansas. In the winter of 1888 the field which was to 

 be seeded to sorghum, about thirty acres, was plowed 

 and subsoiled. In this way it was made to hold prac- 

 tically all the rain that fell during the winter and 

 spring. There was almost no run-off from this field. 

 The summer of 1889 proved to be an excessively dry 

 one, as its predecessor had been. Indian corn in the 

 vicinity of Medicine Lodge was almost a complete fail- 

 ure. The sorghum, however, which was planted in 

 this field grew apace and made a splendid crop. 



The practice which I have just described is the fun- 

 damental principle of dry farming. The Department 

 of Agriculture thus may be regarded as having made 

 the first practical experiment in dry farming on record. 

 This system of preparing a deep seed bed which will 

 hold all of the moisture that falls, and of keeping the 

 surface of it well mulched and stirred by frequent 



