412 DRY-FARMING 



After the harvest, however, every state reported 

 that the crops were well up to the average wherever 

 correct methods of culture had been employed. 



These well-authenticated records from true semi- 

 arid districts, covering the two chief types of winter 

 and summer precipitation, prove that the year of 

 drouth, or the driest year in a twenty-year period, 

 does not disturb agricultural conditions seriously in 

 localities where the average annual precipitation is 

 not too low, and where proper cultural methods are 

 followed. That dry-farming is a system of agricul- 

 tural practice which requires the application of high 

 skill and intelligence is admitted : that it is precarious 

 is denied. The year of drouth is ordinarily the year 

 in which the man failed to do properly his share of the 

 work. 



