110 THE FARMER OF TO-MORROW 



that if it rains a good crop will be produced 

 and if it does not rain nothing will be pro- 

 duced under any conditions. This enables 

 them to farm extensively and to cultivate the 

 land at from one-third to one-half as much 

 expense as in eastern Nebraska; hence if they 

 secure a crop one-half or one-third the time 

 it is produced almost as cheaply as a crop in 

 eastern Nebraska. Their cheaper cultivation 

 is due partly to the fact that the weeds are 

 less troublesome and partly to the fact owing 

 to the drier seasons that the soil is kept in 

 good tilth much cheaper. However, this 

 should not be too encouraging because there 

 are many disadvantages connected with se- 

 curing a crop only once in every two or three 

 years even though it may be produced as 

 cheaply as a crop every year." 



It is this factor in the situation that has 

 given rise during the last few years to the 

 "jumbo" wheat ranches in the Dakotas, where 

 it is not uncommon to find tracts of five, ten, 

 or even twenty thousand acres seeded down 

 at one time. For, just as we have seen in 

 another phase of Gleaning, draining of 

 swamps, it is more economical to drain ten 

 thousand acres at a time than one hundred, so 



