DRY FARMING CONGRESS. 



55 



cess simply because we relied upon men who have been following that 

 up all of the time, men who have been successful in plowing in California. 

 If we can't get men here at home, we expect to go to California again 

 and get men who do understand this business, and we think it pays us to 

 do so. 



MR. CARGO (Colorado): I would like to know whether that soil 

 that he plowed is sandy loam or whether it was heavy, hard grain. 

 AIR. AIERRILL: Our soil is sandy loam. 



]\IR. CARGO: Doesn't that have a great deal to do with the success? 

 Of course, the ground I had reference to in my talk was pretty hard 

 ground. 



MR. MERRILL: The soil is very loose in some places. But I 

 found this out: that this engine we had the tire didn't seem to make any 

 difference with its tractive power whether we went over plowed land or 

 solid land. We plowed over some places where the land is very soft, 

 and a number of places where it is slightly sandy. ^ It worked very well 

 till we got down to where it was a little wet; the engines would slip. 



AIR. DEAVER (Nebraska) : I am ver}^ much interested in what 

 Professor Alerrill has said, and I wanted to ask the Professor one ques- 

 tion, which may not be of interest to all of the delegates, but which is 

 to me in the particular line I am following. I would like to ask the Pro- 

 fessor about what depth is the water on this ground that he raised 23 to 

 27 bushels per acre. 



AIR. AIERRILL: That is something we haven't 3'et found out. That 

 is still a question with us. I may say that we began hauling water some seven 

 or eight miles. The question came to us whether we had better purchase 

 some springs some five miles away and pipe these springs to this land, or 

 whether we should drill or bore for water. We were very anxious to 

 get the state to help to investigate the depth of the water, but we are 

 willing to wait until that question is solved. 



MR. DEAVER: Do you think it is more than forty or fifty feet? 



MR. MERRILL: I think it is at least five or six hundred feet — probably 

 a thousand feet. I will say this: that a well dug on the hill goes down 

 100 feet, and it is just as dry in the bottom of the well as it was when we 

 smarted, and if anything, a little dryer. (Laughter.) 



AIR. DEAVER: That is a very important point. 



AIR. AlERRILL: I might say I was not holding up that yield as 

 being anything like what it ought to be. I think it is to our lasting dis- 

 grace, or discredit, that we did not get more than that. We have neigh- 

 bors on the north, on ground somewhat similar to ours, raising 51 

 bushels per acre, and Air. Grace, sitting in this audience, would think it 

 a disgrace to him if he did not average 35 bushels to the acre each year. 

 With proper methods, I believe that the time has come for Utah when 

 a man who does not raise 35 bushels to the acre on arid land would not 

 be successful. 



