392 DRY-FARMING 



practiced farming without irrigation for centuries; 

 and modern methods are now being appUed in the 

 zone midway between the extremely dry and the 

 extremely humid portions. The irregular distribu- 

 tion of the precipitation, the late spring and early fall 

 frosts, and the fierce winds combine to make the dry- 

 farm problem somewhat difficult, yet the prospects 

 are that, with government assistance, dry-farming 

 in the near future will become an established practice 

 in Mexico. In the opinion of the best students of 

 Mexico it is the only method of agriculture that can 

 be made to reclaim a very large portion of the country. 



Brazil 



Brazil, which is greater in area than the United 

 States, also has a large arid and semiarid territory 

 which can be reclaimed only by dry-farm methods. 

 Through the activity of leading citizens experiments 

 in behalf of the dry-farm movement have already 

 been ordered. The drv-farm district of Brazil re- 

 ceives an annual precipitation of about twenty-five 

 inches, but irregularly distributed and under a tropi- 

 cal sun. In the opinion of those who are familiar with 

 the conditions, the methods of dry-farming ma)^ be so 

 adapted as to make dry-farming successful in Brazil. 



