240 THE LURE OF THE LAND 



plowing to prevent evaporation, is the fundamental 

 principle of all the dry farming that is carried on in 

 the United States to-day. I am convinced that the 

 farmers of Virginia and other places similarly situated 

 must act in accordance with this principle. 



DIFFICULTIES OF DRY FARMING. 



In the soils of Virginia, especially those in Loudoun 

 County, the difficulties of dry farming are indeed very 

 great, but not insurmountable. These lands have been 

 in cultivation, many of them, more than two hundred 

 years. Loudoun County was the first settlement in 

 Virginia after Jamestown. Its superb virgin soil at- 

 tracted the attention of the early immigrants, and there- 

 fore it was quickly settled. At the time of the Amer- 

 ican Revolution, Loudoun County was the most popu- 

 lous county of Virginia. It contained, in round num- 

 bers, nineteen thousand inhabitants ; at the present time 

 its population is only a little over twenty-one thousand. 



The system of agriculture in vogue in Loudoun 

 County has been that generally practised throughout 

 the United States, namely, shallow plowing and con- 

 tinued cultivation in such crops as corn, wheat, oats 

 and timothy. All of these crops take valuable nourish- 

 ment from the soil and yield practically nothing in re- 

 turn. The result is easily predicted. Underneath 

 the surface which has been stirred by the plow is a firm, 

 almost impervious, clay sub-soil. In addition to this it 

 is very thickly studded with small and large rocks, 

 which interfere seriously with sub-soil operations. Yet 

 I feel perfectly certain that this crust must be broken 

 through so as to deepen the seed bed if we are to escape 

 the vicissitudes of the drought which is almost certain 

 to visit this part of the State during the growing season. 



