354 DRY-FARMING 



soil successfully without irrigation. All this points 

 to the high antiquity of agriculture without irriga- 

 tion in arid and semiarid countries. 



Modem dry-farming in the United States 



The honor of having originated modern dry-farm- 

 ing belongs to the people of Utah. On July 24th, 

 1847, Brigham Young with his band of pioneers 

 entered Great Salt Lake ^'alley, and on that day 

 ground was plowed, jDotatoes planted, and a tiny 

 stream of water led from City Creek to cover this 

 first farm. The early endeavors of the Utah pioneers 

 were devoted almost wholly to the construction of 

 irrigation systems. The parched desert ground 

 appeared so different from the moist soils of Illinois 

 and Iowa, which the pioneers had cultivated, as to 

 make it seem im])ossible to ])roduce crops without 

 irrigation. Still, as time wore on, inc|uiring minds 

 considered the possibility of growing crops without 

 irrigation; and occasionally when a farmer was 

 deprived of his supjjly (jf irrigation water through 

 the breaking of a canal or reservoir it was noticed 

 by the communit}- that in spite of the intense heat 

 the plants grew and produced small yields. 



Gradually the conviction grew upon the Utah 

 pioneers that farming without irrigation was not an 

 impossibility; but the small population were kept so 

 busy with their small irrigated farms that no serious 



