THE ORIGIN AND HISTORY OF DRY FARMING 31 



this system into so many independent centres. It is true, 

 nevertheless, that the drought that so generally prevailed 

 during 1893-95, and especially in 1894, resulted in im- 

 pressing upon the minds of western farmers, as never be- 

 fore, the absolute need of observing carefully the princi- 

 ples that must obtain where moisture is to be preserved. 

 Those principles were largely evolved in those several 

 communities from the chaos of repeated mistakes in 

 farming the land. 



Dry farming in Europe. In western Europe, the 

 precipitation is so great as to preclude the necessity for 

 dry farming methods. In eastern Europe crops cannot 

 be successfully grown by any other system. The same is 

 true of certain portions of central and southern Europe. 



The semi-arid portion of eastern Europe is practically 

 confined to Russia. The area in which the precipitation 

 is low is very large, not less, probably, than one-fourth of 

 the entire country. In the southeastern portion the 

 shortage is most marked. That part of Russia bears con- 

 siderable resemblance to the Great Plains country in the 

 United States. Dry farming methods have been more or 

 less practised in Russia for many years, but the practise 

 of these has been crude and imperfect. Recently, how- 

 ever, the government is introducing more advanced 

 methods.. 



The areas of central Europe that call for dry farming 

 are not nearly so extensive, nor is the shortage in the 

 precipitation so great. One of the driest areas is found 

 in certain portions of. the Austrain Empire and the states 

 that are adjacent thereto, more especially on the eastern 

 border. 



In some parts of southern Europe the normal rain- 

 fall is much less than could be desired. Because of this, 

 irrigation is practised in various places in the Mediter- 

 ranean countries where water is attainable. Where 



