CHAPTER II 

 THE ORIGIN AND HISTORY OF DRY FARMING 



When dry farming began will never be known now. 

 There are good reasons for believing, however, that it 

 had its origin not far from where the human race was 

 cradled, or at least not far from the mountain on which 

 the ark rested soon after the flood. That region is dry 

 now. There are no evidences to show that it was humid 

 in the centuries that immediately followed the flood, and 

 yet it was near Ararat that the peopling of the world 

 began for the second time. It is not reasonable to sup- 

 pose that those ancient peoples lived entirely on animal 

 food, for many of them were not nomads. If other food 

 was used, it was produced by the soil, and it is prepos- 

 terous to suppose that it was all grown by irrigation. 



The antiquity of dry farming. That some of the 

 greatest nations of antiquity practised dry farming can- 

 not now be questioned. That they practised irrigation 

 also cannot for one moment be doubted. That the area 

 then that was dry farmed was vastly greater than the 

 area that was irrigated was doubtless as true as it is to- 

 day. The evidence is conclusive that centuries long 

 before the Christian era dry farming was not only 

 practised, but that the existence of populous nations 

 depended upon crops grown mainly by dry farm methods. 



The exact methods by which dry land crops were 

 grown in the centuries of long ago is a secret that will 

 never be revealed. It lies entombed with the men who 

 grew the crops. That the method of growing them, 

 however, was essentially the same as it is today cannot 

 be doubted, for crops cannot be grown in the absence of 

 irrigation in dry areas and in the absence of moisture 

 conservation, and moisture conservation cannot be 

 properly maintained unless the surface soil is frequently 



