400 DRY-FARMING 



the settlers, the wilhng soil failed to yield a crop only 

 one year. Moreover, it should not be forgotten that 

 hundreds of farmers in the driest section during this 

 dry periotl, who instinctively or otherwise farmed 

 more nearly right, obtained good crops even in 1894. 

 The simple practice of summer fallowing, had it been 

 practiced the yea,r before, would have insured satis- 

 factor)^ crops in the driest year. Further, the set- 

 tlers who did not take to their heels upon the arrival 

 of the dry year are still living in large numbers on 

 their homesteads and in numerous instances have 

 accumulated comfortable fortunes from the land 

 which lias been held uj) so long as a warning against 

 settlement beyond a humid climate. The failure of 

 1894 was due as nuich to a lack of proper agricultural 

 information and practice as to the occurrence of a 

 dr}' year. 



Next, the statement is carelessly made that the 

 recent success in dry-farming is due to the fact that 

 we are now living in a cycle of wet years, but that as 

 soon as the cja-le of dry years strikes the country dry- 

 farming will vanish as a dismal failure. Then, again, 

 th(^ theory is proposed that the climate is permanently 

 changing toward wetness or dryness and the past has 

 no meaning in reading the riddle of the future. It is 

 doubtless true that no man ma}^ safely predict the 

 weather for future generations; yet, so far as human 

 knowledge goes, there is no perceptible average 

 change in the climate from period to period within 



