4 DKY-FARMING 



those prevailing in the countries in which scientific 

 agriculture originated. Many suggestions for a 

 better name have been made. "Scientific agricul- 

 ture" has been proposed, but all agriculture should 

 be scientific, and agriculture without irrigation in 

 an arid country has no right to lay sole claim to so 

 general a title. "Dry-land agriculture," which has 

 also been suggested, is no improvement over ' ' dry- 

 farming," as it is longer and also carries with it the 

 idea of dryness. Instead of the name " dry-farming " 

 it would, perhaps, be better to use the names, " arid- 

 farming" " semiarid-f arming, " "humid-farming, "and 

 "irrigation-farming," according to the chmatic con- 

 ditions prevailing in various parts of the world. How- 

 ever, at the present time the name " dry-farming " 

 is in such general use that it would seem unwise to 

 suggest any change. It should be used with the 

 distinct understanding that as far as the word " dry" 

 is concerned it is a misnomer. Wlien the two words 

 are hyphenated, however, a compound technical 

 term — "dry-farming" — is secured which has a 

 meaning of its own, such as we have just defined it 

 to be; and "dry-farming," therefore, becomes an 

 addition to the lexicon. 



Dry- versus humid-farming 



Dry-farming, as a distinct branch of agriculture, 

 has for its purpose the reclamation, for the use of 

 man, of the vast unirrigable "desert" or "semi- 



