30 DRY FARMING CONGRESS. 



full of tiny pores that draw up the water from below by capillarity, until 

 much more water is lost through evaporation from the soil than was gained 

 by the light rainfall — unless a harrow is put on and the crust broken into 

 a mulch again. 



Irrigation men who have kept in touch with the progress of dry farm- 

 ing are realizing its great possibilities. We see that our water supply 

 unless used over and over again, is only sufficient to reclaim b}' irriga- 

 tion perhaps an extreme maximum of ten per cent, of the arid country. 

 This leaves a tremendous area that must always be devoted principally 

 to the livelihood of the steer and the sheep, many acres being required 

 for the support of one animal, unless there is a wide ultimate success for 

 dry farming. 



In Wyoming alone there are more than sixty-two million acres, of which 

 it is estimated that there are now irrigated, or under irrigation projects 

 now in construction, 1,500,000 acres, and that the extreme possibilities of 

 irrigation in the state will mean an ultimate reclamation of 10,000,000 acres. 

 There are some 10,000,000 acres covered with timber, and there are moun- 

 tains that perhaps would prevent agriculture of any kind over an area of 

 12,000,000 acres more. This leaves an area of over 30.000,000 acres within 

 the state of W3^oming that will in all probabilit}^ never be used for agri- 

 culture, unless the science of dry farming is so developed, as the years go 

 by, and methods are so improved, that the farmer will take up the public 

 lands of Wyoming, which are now some 48,000,000 acres in area, subject 

 to entry under the land laws of the United States. Will this area, or any 

 large part of it, be reclaimed by dry farming methods? We hope so. AVe 

 have seen crops grown under dry farming conditions where the raiiifall 

 during the year averages less than ten inches. At Laramie, where the 

 average rainfall is about nine and one-half inches, crops were raised with 

 no irrigation, in fact, with very little cultivation, that took the second 

 prize for dry farm products at the State Fair at Douglas. If this can be 

 done without great stress laid on the special methods best for dr}- farm- 

 ing, what can be done by scientific farming, of which we hear so many 

 advocates at this meeting? 



Perhaps you will be interested in hearing of the methods we are using 

 at Cheyenne, Newcastle, and Laramie to find out the principles undcrl3nng 

 the conservation of soil moisture, that great principle on which dr}- farm- 

 ing is founded. Two years ago we began taking samples from different 

 plots at the government farm at Cheyenne. These samples were taken at 

 the average depth of one, two and three feet, and the moisture percentage 

 was determined in the chemical laboratory of the University of '\A''3^oming. 

 In connection with the crop, the amount of seed used, the width between 

 rows, the cultivation given the land, the qualit}^ of the soil, and the 3ield, 

 these soil moisture determinations gave us some valuable data. The past 

 season, for twent3'-sevcn weeks, samples were taken on the plots at the 

 government farm at Che3'enne. Samples were also taken weekl3' from the 

 government farm at Newcastle and the Experiment Station farm at Lara- 



