DRY FARMING CONGRESS. 



49 



!em comes in there, and I think it worthy of discussion in our Congress. 

 I would like to hear something, and probably will before the convention is 

 over with, in regard to the best motive power. If there is any engine 

 that is a success, a positive success, it is a great thing to the dry farmers 

 to find it out, and not flounder and lose a lot of money in finding it out. 

 That is what we are here for, to profit by each others' experiences. There- 

 fore I simply rose to my feet to ask for a discussion of these matters by 

 those who have had experience, and did not intend to make a speech my- 

 self. 



MR. ALFRED ATKINSON (Montana): I would like to ask, along 

 the line of discussion in regard to small farm or large farm, about how 

 small do you think a farm could be and yet be handled profitably by dry 

 farming? 



MR. BENNION: About 160 acres is the usual dry farm, but in my 

 estimation it is too small altogether. I think that a dry farm should run 

 up into thousands of acres, and something that would justify some motive 

 power better than horses. 



MR. ATKINSON: Does your experience indicate that 640 acres 

 would be a fair acreage? . . 



MR. BENNION: ,Yes, that will do. But that will hardly justify an 

 engine. That will justify horse-power, and it may be large enough also 

 so that a man will make use of his pasture; it would be sufficiently large 

 to justify corrals, and possibly fencing. The question is, and I think we 

 would like to know each others' experience as to whether horse power 

 is the best on'these dry farms, or gasoline or steam engines, or what kind 

 of engines. These are some of the questions I wish to throw open for 

 discussion. I will say while I am on my feet that from my experience 

 I have thought that we wanted some power; that horses were too slow, 

 take too many drivers, too much harness and too much looking after, and 

 that by getting some power we would be able to do better. But I have 

 tried steam power and feel like going back to horses myself. (Laughter.) 

 Some of my friends, however, who have different kinds of engines, think 

 they are successful. I have some cattle running on my farm, several hun- 

 dred cattle, that wintered over nicely 



MR. JORDAN: I would like to ask, -while we are on horse-power 

 or steam engines for plowing, if there is not someone in the audience who 

 could give us a little experience with steam engines. There have been 

 some fourteen, I believe, working in the state, and it seems to me that 

 is a very good question to discuss. There is a great diversity of opinion 

 on the comparative value of steam power and horse power. I believe it 

 is possible here tonight to answer this either in the negative or affirma- 

 tive to a considerable degree, at least, and I believe considerable infor- 

 mation can be thrown on it right here, and there is no question that the 

 arid farmer is more interested in than the question of power. It seems 

 to me just right to take that up. 



