238 



THE IBBIGATION AGE. 



DRY FARMING. 



The greatest agricultural expansion in the United 

 States at the present time is in the so-called dry-farm 

 belt on the Great Plains. The settler has invaded this 

 belt before only to be driven back, but there is now a 

 general belief that improved methods of cultivation 

 and the introduction of drouth-resistant crops will bring 

 success where there has been repeated failure. The 

 United States Department of Agriculture and other 

 agencies have done much that will help in this new at- 

 tack upon the semi-arid region, and all have great hopes 

 for the success of dry farming, but notwithstanding this, 

 two facts must be clearlv recognized: First, that with 

 the greatest success now anticipated, the dry farm will 

 be devoid of many of these beauties and comforts which 

 go with a water supply; that is, trees, fruits, and vege- 

 tables; and, second, that there will be years when even 

 with the best of cultivation and the most drouth-resist- 

 ant plants, crops cannot be matured. In spite of the 

 comparatively favorable weather conditions of the past 

 two or three years it is to be expected that there will 

 succeed a period of very dry years, for weather observers 

 long ago established the fact that weather moves in 

 cycles. How soon the dry seasons will return cannot be 

 foretold, but to insure success provision should be made 

 by the dry farmer to tide over the lean years with a gar- 

 den in which he can grow the vegetables required for 

 household use and a small patch of hay land with which 

 he can provide winter forage for his stock. To do this 

 he must develop a small water supply either storing in 

 a reservoir the flood waters of some torrential stream or 

 he must irrigate wherever possible, winter or summer, 

 with the floods produced in adjacent gullies by the in- 

 frequent rains. Finally, he may tap the underflow, 

 which can be found quite generally over the entire region 

 at depths varving from 20 to 200 feet, and secure water 

 by erecting a windmill or gasoline engine pumping plant. 

 In this way he will be able to maintain his home dur- 

 ing the dry years and depend upon the wet years for his 

 profits. All these precautionary measures are new to 

 the majority of settlers upon these lands, and under the 

 present favorable weather conditions their "ultimate 

 necessity is not appreciated or is overlooked by all except 

 the most conservative and far-sighted. 



With a view of educating the settlers to a true reali- 

 zation of the conditions which confront them and to 

 determine the possibilities of development along the 

 lines suggested the Department of Agriculture has estab- 

 lished three farms on the Great Plains, where experi- 

 ments are being conducted to determine the best methods 

 and cost of preparing land for irrigation and best kind 

 of power and pumps, and the use and cost of operation ; 

 the best methods of storing and using water, and the 

 best methods of storing water after it is applied to the 

 soil. The most notable of these farms and the one at- 

 tracting most attention at present is. that near Chey- 

 enne, Wyo. Here a tract of a little over seventy acres 

 of formerly barren soil has been secured, of which thirty 

 acres is dry farmed; that is, no moisture whatever is 

 supplied beyond that received as rain. Of this area 

 about fifteen acres is left fallow alternate years, but is 

 rolled and compacted after every rain in order to con- 

 serve the soil moisture, a system of culture considered 

 most effective under these conditions. An area of ap- 



proximately thirty acres is irrigated during the winter 

 and spring by the flood waters of a nearby creek, while 

 a small area is irrigated during the summer by water 

 pumped by windmills and stored in a reservoir com- 

 manding five or six acres. 



The underground water supply at this farm is devel- 

 oped bv pumping from wells in the valley of the creek, 

 which is usually dry but which has a considerable under- 

 flow reached at a depth of less than fifteen feet. This 

 underflow is being developed by windmills, and to de- 

 termine the type of windmill best suited to the condi- 

 tions there existing, seven mills, contributed by as manj 

 manufacturers, have been erected, all of them discharg- 

 ing water into the small reservoir. Each mill is pro- 

 vided with devices arranged to measure the quantity of 

 water pumped, the velocity of the wind, and the speed 

 of the wheel, from which data will be obtained that will 

 make the capabilities of the wind-mills for the services 

 of the dry farmer much better known than before. 



The crops grown upon this farm consist of drouth- 

 resistant grains on the unirrigated area and garden veg- 

 etables, such as potatoes, beets, etc., on the area receiv- 

 ing water. While an unusually large annual rainfall 

 may have had a considerable influence in bringing about 

 the favorable results obtained during the previous sea- 

 son, it is a fact that this is the first successful attempt 

 at agriculture, irrigated or otherwise, in the vicinity of 

 Cheyenne, and this city, according to the daily press, 

 "hailed with delight the first load of farm produce evei 

 brought into the city." 



The second farm is being established at Eads, Colo., 

 where water will be pumped from a well which has been 

 driven to a depth of 110 feet after many difficulties be- 

 cause of the nature of the material penetrated. At this 

 depth a flow of water was secured which probably will 

 be ample for the irrigation of a considerable portion of 

 the farm. A deep-well pump outfit of the two-stroke type 

 has been installed, driven by an alcohol engine. The 

 latter was contributed by a well-known manufacturer 

 and the results secured by the use of alcohol fuel should 

 be of much interest to those contemplating the substi- 

 tution of alcohol for gasoline. 



The department has already made experiments with 

 alcohol engines under laboratory conditions and in the 

 hands of experts, but information is desired as to the 

 value of alcohol as a fuel in the hands of farmers and 

 under ordinary field conditions. 



A third farm is at Newcastle, Wyo., where a flow of 

 water was encountered at a depth of twenty feet, and an 

 open well has been due: in the bottom of which a per- 

 forated boiler shell has been sunk to a depth of ten feet to 

 act as a strainer. A vertical, submerged centrifugal pump 

 will be used at that place, and while the amount of the 

 water supply which can be developed is somewhat un- 

 certain, probably sufficient will be secured for the pur- 

 poses of demonstration. A gasoline engine of the same 

 type as that used at Eads will be employed for power, 

 the intention being to secure some data as to the rela- 

 tive costs of gasoline and alcohol in pumping. 



At Wichita Falls, Tex., a farm has been established 

 upon which various methods of conserving and utilizing 

 soil moisture and the possibilities of irrigation are be- 

 ing demonstrated. In a tornado which recently occurred 

 in that section a great deal of damage was done to the 

 farm buildings but the cultural operations are being 

 carried on as before. 



