60 DRY FARMING CONGRESS. 



As many of you know by actual experience, one of the chief draw- 

 backs of the dry farm is the difficulty encountered in securing water for 

 the home and the corral. Both man and the domestic animals under his 

 care must have water to drink and a family soon wearies of driving stock 

 long distances to the nearest water hole and of hauling water in barrels 

 from the nearest spring or well for drinking and culinary purposes. 



Again, the sunshine is so intense in summer that shade trees around 

 a home are a necessity to comfort and even to happiness. If to shade 

 trees one adds a small family orchard, a vegetable garden, a patch of 

 clover or alfalfa, and sufficient water to keep all in a vigorous condition 

 there exist all the essential elements required to make a country residence 

 attractive. 



Water is not onl}^ needed for household and stock purposes and for 

 the irrigation of trees, lawns and gardens, but it is the most important factor 

 in the production of field crops. The soil is fertile, the climate favorable, 

 but the proper amount of water is frequently lacking and low yields or 

 crop failures result. If the dry farm could only obtain and apply the water 

 which the irrigator wastes it would greatly increase the yields from arid 

 lands. 



Now I want to touch very briefly, friends, upon a few sources from 

 which v/ater suppl}^ can be obtained, and in advocating this do not mis- 

 understand me. I do not wish to thrust irrigation upon you. I only wish 

 to recommend to the farmer who has 160 or 320 or 640 acres that he is. 

 cultivating to try to find some water for a limited area — enough to grow 

 shade trees — enough to afford a few apple and peach trees, and for the 

 irrigation of a garden. My first subject is: 



Winter Irrigation. 



B}^ 'Svinter irrigation" is meant the application of water to the soils 

 outside of the regular irrigation season. The latter seldom lasts more than 

 four months. During the balance of the year, particularly in the early 

 spring, a large quantity of water passes the dry farm on its way to th^ 

 ocean, or, in your case to the Great Salt Lake. This water is not utilized 

 by either the dry farmer or the irrigator, yet it is capable of producing 

 valuable results. If one excludes the Great Plains region, where there are 

 few rivers, and considers the more mountainous portions of the states 

 and territories west of the Missouri river, there is presented a well-nigh 

 limitless opportunity for the diversion of water from western streams and 

 its application to dry farms during periods of the year when it is not 

 used by the irrigators of the lower valleys. 



Winter irrigation has got beyond the experimental stage. In Arizona, 

 California, Eastern Oregon and Eastern Washington, many of the streams 

 discharge tlie greater part of their flow during the non-irrigating season. 

 This water when not retained in storage reservoirs would be entirely 

 wasted unless diverted and used. Quite often fields and orchards are irri- 

 gated in this way when the plants and trees do not require Avater, but 



